Police National Headquarters
180 Molesworth Street, PO Box 3017,
Wel ington
Phone +64 4 474 9499
12 April 2023
IR-01-23-6990
J A Harris
[FYI request #21324 email]
Dear J A Harris
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 6 March 2023, in which
you asked for further information regarding your previous OIA request IR-01-23-449
relating to Medicinal Cannabis.
My response to each of your questions can be found below.
1. Can you please confirm this means there are no procedures in place to
identity gaps in Police procedure or content of the Police Manual?
Police advises that the content of the Police Manual is regularly reviewed for currency,
and relevant chapters of the Manual are updated and reviewed as required by policy or law
change.
2. Can you please further confirm, in relation to the original request, that as
Police have no procedure relating to medical cannabis patients this means a
patient prescribed medical cannabis wil suffer no action from Police?
For example, where a patient is consuming their medical cannabis and Police
receive a complaint or a Police employee detects the use of the cannabis?
As per your original request and response, I refer you to the Police Instructions chapter
titled “Part 14 Medical Cannabis”, which can also be viewed via the following link:
https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/drugs-part-14-medicinal-
cannabis-280622.pdf
Page eight of that chapter states: “A person who has a certificate from a medical
practitioner or nurse practitioner certifying that the person requires palliation may procure,
possess, consume, smoke, or otherwise use any plant or plant material of the genus
Cannabis or any cannabis preparation.” Further, page five of the chapter defines
“palliation” as “A kind of care that make patients with terminal il nesses feel better, even
though the care cannot cure the patient.”
I also refer you to Police Instruction Chapter titled “Part 15 Police discretion with
possession/use of controlled drugs and/or possession of utensils offences”, which can
also be viewed via the following link:
https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/drugs-part-15-police-discretion-
with-possession-use-of-controlled-drugs-280622.pdf
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not satisfied
with the response to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is available
at: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Yours sincerely
David Kirby
Detective Inspector
National Criminal Investigation Group
New Zealand Police
