‘We’re sick and desperate’ - HIV sufferer’s fight for medicinal cannabis

‘We’re sick and desperate’ - HIV sufferer’s fight for medicinal cannabis

It seems New Zealand is falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to making medicinal cannabis available to suffering patients.

This is according to one international law expert and Story has been speaking to dozens of people who say the government is not doing enough to help them. The only legal cannabis product, Sativex, is too difficult to get hold of.

Greg Soar has been HIV positive since 1998 and for 18 years he has kept the disease at bay with medication. But the downside of the medication is it makes him very sick.

Now he uses the cannabis-based spray Sativex to stop the nausea he suffers every day.

"It works brilliantly for that purpose, a few squirts and the nausea disappears," says Mr Soar.

International law expert, Al Gillespie, says New Zealand's approach is restricted and out-dated. In Canada and 24 US states, you can grow your own medicinal cannabis.

A law change in Australia last week means businesses can now apply to grow cannabis and make products for medicinal use, or conduct research.

Five years ago the Law Commission recommended that clinical trials be conducted into the medical use of leaf cannabis but the Government said it was not its role to initiate clinical trials.

But Mr Gillespie says New Zealand does not need its own trials and can draw from international research about allowing it to be grown.

But the larger political question is whose decision is it? Do you copy the Canadian model where a doctor's certificate is required or do you stick with the New Zealand model where the Minister has to personally sign it off?

Mr Soar wants the Government to get on with making medicinal cannabis easier to access.

"We're not unreasonable people. We're sick, hurt and desperate frightened people."

Watch the video for the full Story report.