The Green Party supports evidence-based, compassionate drug law reform that reduces harm. Drugs are a health, housing, employment, and education issue and criminalising people doesn’t solve any of those problems. Both legal and illegal drugs can cause harm, especially if used to excess or at a young age. Our social and legal response can either increase or decrease that harm. We know prohibition fuels organised crime and causes far more damage than it prevents. Many people in Aotearoa use drugs,...

The Green Party says New Zealanders now have a clear vision of how a safe, regulated cannabis market would work in Aotearoa, with the release of the final version of the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill.

Drug use should be treated as a health issue and the Government’s focus should be on reducing harm to New Zealanders. Drugs can cause harm but not all drug use is problematic. Drug policy should focus on harm-reduction and be a health issue Government funding should shift to addiction treatment and rehabilitation programmes, which should be widely available. Needle and syringe exchanges, and safe places for using drugs, should be encouraged. All the Law Commission’s relevant recommendations should be implemented....

The Green Party supports evidence-based, compassionate drug law reform that reduces harm. We support a “yes” vote in the referendum to legalise and control cannabis. It’s time to regulate the sale and use of cannabis in Aotearoa, because the current approach hasn’t worked to minimise harm. Drugs are a health, housing, employment, and education issue. Criminalising people doesn’t solve any of those problems. Both legal and illegal drugs can cause harm, especially if used to excess or at a young...

“In an ideal world, communities would be completely free of drug use, where we all thrive and live healthy lives. Yet forty years of punitive legal sanctions have only driven problems further underground”, Green Party Drug Reform spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick said today.

​The Green Party welcome medicinal cannabis regulations released today that will ensure timely treatment for suffering patients.

Police will be given new powers to conduct random roadside oral fluid drug testing to deter, detect and prosecute drugged drivers in order to save lives, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced today.  

The Green Party welcome draft legislation for the cannabis referendum which will provide the information required for a constructive debate on a controlled, health-based approach to cannabis in New Zealand.

The Green Party welcome the opening of a Suicide Prevention Office that specifically focuses on driving down suicide rates in New Zealand.