Opposition parties meet with NORML lobbyists

Simon Power

Following NORML's survey of parliamentarians, meetings were arranged with the Greens and Labour.

Iain Lees-Galloway from Labour and Kevin Hague from the Greens meet with NORML's Wellington based lobbists Phil Saxby and Geoff Clarke.

Iain is optimistic about the Select Committee reviewing the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The Law Commission did extensive research during its review of the Misuse of Drugs Act (1975) and made a number of recommendations including clinical trials for cannabis.

While former Justice Minister Simon Power said there would be no change to the legal status of cannabis while he was a minister, his departure paves the way for the implementation of the Law Commission's recommendations.

This includes a entire rewrite of the classification system for drugs using an evidence based approach.

MPs Kevin Hague and possibly Iain Lees-Galloway would be interested in attending a meeting with NORML as well as discussions between NORML and other groups.