Shortland Street mirrors reality with medicinal marijuana scenes

Shortland Street scriptwriters are again mirroring reality, with a teen battling cancer on the show taking marijuana for medicinal reasons.

Just days after Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne gave the green light for medical use of cannabis for a Kiwi teenager in a coma, the use of the drug is the topic of a main storyline on New Zealand's favourite drama.

The Shortland Street winter one-hour season starts on Monday with 14-year-old cancer sufferer Pixie Hannah, played by Thomasin McKenzie, being given brownies laced with cannabis by family members to help with appetite problems.

Series producer Simon Bennett told the Herald on Sunday it was coincidental the controversial script mirrored recent headlines. But he hoped it would spark further debate about the use of medicinal marijuana here.

"One of the medical consultants, Victoria Anderton, discovers Pixie is being given cannabis by her family as conventional medicine isn't working," Bennett said....

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