Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: More medical cannabis misadventure with the Ministry of Health (actually, probably with Crown Law)

Sacha

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 17:32:17 +1300

Fairfax story has Minister Dunne agreeing with Ministry line.

While there's a loophole in New Zealand's law that allows people to bring back 30 days worth of a prescribed drug from overseas – the law only applies to those drugs approved under federal, not state law, because border control is…

Mitch Stein

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 12:43:42 +1300

Hi, all!

If you get this in time, I'm going to do a live interview on Radio 1 tonight (Friday) at 9PM New Zealand time (midnight CA time) regarding my and my family's inexcusable and inhumane ordeal and treatment at the hands of NZ Customs and Immigration agents two weeks…

Sue Grey

Fri, 03 Feb 2017 15:49:39 +1300

I've asked Attorney-General Chris Finlayson, Solicitor-General Una Jagose and the relevant Ministers (Health and Customs) to urgently disclose the legal advice that Dr Steward Jessamine of MinHealth waived legal privilege on when he advised on 10 January: "Advice has also been received that cannabis-based products cannot be considered lawfully supplied…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 15:26:39 +1300

I can almost forgive them, given that he had the creatine in his pockets in point bags
Don't see why – that may have been the best way of portioning out his daily dosage – tiny ziplok© bags do not a criminal make – they sell them at our local…

Sue Grey

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 15:03:30 +1300

I've got an OIA response from Peter Dunne which admits that the harmful effects of synthetic cannabis products are far more serious than the effects from natural cannabis. ... which makes it even more incomprehensible why he promotes synthetic products over natural products or why he is apparently so fixated…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 14:19:28 +1300

The Drugs (testing gear) don’t work!

That'll be the police using "wet chemistry" reagent testing,, which is notoriously subjective (police don't have the fancy new mobile spectroscopy gear that Customs does).

I can almost forgive them, given that he had the creatine in his pockets in point bags.

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 14:07:18 +1300

In the spirit of accuracy and as indicated in my initial letter, I am a film producer, not director. Let’s not give directors a bad name. ;)

Oops, let me fix that :-)

Mitch Stein

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:51:55 +1300

Shane, cannabis has been proven to drastically minimize and even completely eliminate seizures in epilepsy patients.

Here's just one of many stories:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-medical-marijuana-epilepsy-study-met-20160403-story.html

Mitch Stein

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:45:45 +1300

In the spirit of accuracy and as indicated in my initial letter, I am a film producer, not director. Let's not give directors a bad name. ;)

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:36:11 +1300

The Drugs (testing gear) don’t work!
Riki told police it was the sports supplement Creatine, but police tested it on their equipment and charged him with possession of amphetamine.
…
Nineteen-year-old Tonihi James Riki walked free from the Christchurch District Court on Tuesday after scientific testing of the powder showed…

Mitch Stein

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:10:37 +1300

Russell, I regrettably failed to previously and personally thank you for bringing this situation to light; please allow me to do so now. I'm not some media whore trying to get famous at the cost of my dignity and the emotional upset of my family; I'm honestly trying to turn…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 11:46:53 +1300

Here’s the updated Customs advice. It basically says two different things: that the product must have been “lawfully supplied” – and then the update, noting that nearly all US cannabis products can’t be carried. It also says such products will be “seized”, but nothing about detention or expulsion.

Interestingly, the…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 11:40:58 +1300

Okay … I’ll write this up in more detail soon, but it appears that a view on the status of US medical cannabis imports came in the first instance from Crown Law (in response to the DEA email noted above by Chris Fowlie). I’m not clear whether Customs was advised…

Mitch Stein

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 10:29:07 +1300

First, let me say how much I truly appreciate the sympathy I've gotten from many reasonable, rational, compassionate Kiwis horrified by the way my family was treated. That said and while I would urge you to speak out against such injustice perpetrated by your governmental agencies, the worst injustice is…

Sue Grey

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 10:15:12 +1300

One of the underlying problems is s22 of the State Sector Act, as public servants duties are mainly to uphold the wishes of their Minister rather than uphold the law and act in the public interest.

There is a serious mis-match between the rule of law (the fundamental principle that…

Sacha

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 09:48:40 +1300

they seem to operate under an "alternative law" and "alternative rules" to justify their "alternative interpretation"

Sounds like that Ministry in general. I've witnessed their lawyers claiming that their organisation is not bound by a standard legal duty of care to a patient because their requirement to be efficient with…

Sue Grey

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 09:25:32 +1300

The Ombudsman ruled against MinHealth last year for withholding legal advice where it was in the public interest to disclose it (see link below)
Unfortunately despite this, and the intense public interest in trying to understand the Ministry's unique interpretation of the law, Min Health and its lawyer Phil Knipe…

linger

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 07:44:12 +1300

or even the unpalatable possibility of someone deciding they needed to be seen to be "tough on drugs" because TV cameras were rolling.

andin

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 07:16:46 +1300

Who the hell thought this was a fair approach?

The circular arse covering goes on..... Ass ring? circus? not very spectacular.
Or is it.. "Hey I've got a very important job and I'll do anything to protect it"

Shane Le Brun

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 21:56:42 +1300

Peter Theil owns a stake in Tilray, gradually sorting it out I guess, they are EU Pharmaceutical grade now for some products.

Rob Stowell

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 21:40:07 +1300

Get Peter Theil to sort it out ...

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:06:43 +1300

Well ... I bailed up Peter Dunne about this and he says Customs acted on Crown Law advice.

I suspect Crown Law is, like Customs, taking advice from the Ministry of Health, but if it's Crown Law who's responsible for Mr Stein's treatment, then questions need to be asked there.…

Paul Campbell

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 13:41:01 +1300

I find the whole in-your-face televising of people going thru customs for private profit a real breach of privacy.

It's at a time when people are stressed – and we're all stressed and feeling vulnerable going thru customs, even when we're completely innocent – partly I guess because of those…

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 13:25:58 +1300

There may be a biosecurity issue. We can't have people just bringing in weed, with the concomitant risk of Mexican Marijuana Maggots devastating our local crop.

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:20:25 +1300

This comment from Chris Fowlie on Facebook is interesting:

NORML has been leaked an internal document showing their "legal advice" is an email from the DEA, which recommends not allowing any US botanical cannabis as, in their opinion, not being approved by the FDA is the definition of "lawfully obtained".…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:16:22 +1300

Oh, and you'll be seeing this on TV. From the statement:

While removing all of our packed items from our suitcases and bags and throwing them in indiscriminate piles on the Customs tables, the Customs agent interrogated me and my wife as if we were common criminals, asking incredibly personal…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:13:40 +1300

Even if they decided Stein couldn’t bring the marajuana into New Zealand, I don’t understand why they deported him instead of just confiscating it. He declared it FFS.

And he said in the Checkpoint interview that he offered (naturally) to surrender the cannabis if he could be allowed entry. The…

Shane Le Brun

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 10:42:54 +1300

Dissapointing from the end of MCANZ that we have been deliberately shut out of affordable products from the USA.
Even more frustrating is that the DEA could probably be challenged on not issuing export licenses, they have issued import licenses.... https://www.wired.com/2015/07/medical-marijuana-epilepsy/

Its hard when the "competent Authority" has been defunded…

Stephen R

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 10:42:34 +1300

It seems to me that if you declare what you're importing, you can hardly be a smuggler, neh?

I once went through Australian customs with a hand-made knife a flat-mate had made for a friend in Australia (damascus steel blade and all) and got dragged to the customs desk where…

Public Address

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 10:42:34 +1300

Discussion from blog post.