Latest Legal CommentarIES
Monday, November 19, 2018
The Forthcoming Referendum on the Growing and Supply of Cannabis for Personal Recreational Use
Presently before the Parliament is the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill which would facilitate easier access to cannabis-based products for medical reasons. Currently, such use requires Ministerial approval on a patient by patient basis. On the horizon however is a much more radical and wide spread reform. In exchange for Green Party supply support after the 2017 General Election, the present Government has committed to holding a referendum before or at the next Election in 2020 on whether the law should be changed to allow the growing and supply of cannabis for personal “recreational” use. More...
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Armistice Day and Its Sequel
The centenary ceremony for Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, at Auckland Domain, set amidst over 18,000 white crosses representing every New Zealand service man or woman who was killed in World War I, was predictably moving. There is a view that World War I represents the birth of the nation of New Zealand. Probably an exaggeration but I have always thought that the two World Wars are hugely significant in New Zealand’s history and in shaping who we are. My father drove tanks and slept in trenches in North Africa, Crete and Italy in World War II and my boyhood was shaped by his stories and photographs from “the War”. More...