Wire Worry Week: Medicinal cannabis bill, July 25, 2018

While the Health Select Committee is finalising its report on the Medicinal Cannabis Government Bill as we speak, the National Party has announced its intention to drop its support, instead putting a member’s bill in the ballot under MP Shane Reti’s name. National Party Leader Simon Bridges said he would not support an “un thought-through bill”, even though the opposition stood for the government bill in its first reading.

I talked to the Chris Fowlie, the spokesperson of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and asked whether he was surprised by National’s support withdrawal, and what it meant for the future.