A New Zealand police officer is arguing for the decriminalisation of cannabis, saying the punishment does not fit the crime.

The frontline officer shared his opinion in a September "I Am Keen" column for Police Association Magazine Police News, where officers have the opportunity to anonymously voice their views on police operations.

"People who are stoned are generally quite jovial and the last thing they want to do is fight me," he says.

"That is a very simple reason for me to not treat cannabis possession with the same enforcement enthusiasm I once did."

The tide is turning on medicinal cannabis law reform, with a new poll showing only one in eight people oppose safe and legal access to medicinal cannabis products prescribed by licensed doctors.

Former Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Helen Kelly said the results put pressure on the Government to act now, rather than wait for a potential referendum in the future.

"Politicians now have the choice – force those who are mainly unwell to collect signatures simply so the public will be believed, or act quickly and with mercy and fix this mess up so people like me and many others have safe and legal guaranteed access."

Rebecca Reider says she's feeling a bit stoned.  

She's standing in the garden, admiring the size and health of her broad beans.

A TV3 crew have just visited moments before, to film the Californian-born Golden Bay resident smoking New Zealand's first legal buds since they were outlawed in the 1960s, from her stained glass pipe. 

An economic research think tank is calling for marijuana to be legalised saying it could save the country over $300 million a year.

Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) principal economist Peter Wilson said outlawing the drug had not stopped 10 percent of New Zealanders using it.

He said although policies reducing its harm were needed, Treasury had calculated changing the legal status of marijuana would mean the government rather than criminals would benefit.

For former Council of Trade unions president Helen Kelly, having access to medicinal cannabis is a personal issue.

Kelly joined John Campbell's Checkpoint from her home in Wellington and shared the reason behind her opting for cannabis. 

"It's a mild, cheap and low-key medicine being denied," Kelly said during the interview with Campbell.

Golden Bay woman Rebecca Reider has made history bringing the first legal raw cannabis flower into New Zealand, medical marijuana campaigners say.

A woman is claiming victory after bringing a bag of cannabis through customs at Auckland Airport - without so much as a raised eyebrow.

Rather than concealing the drug supply, Rebecca Reider said she happily showed off her haul of one ounce of medicinal marijuana, which has now been hailed by cannabis campaigners as an historic precedent. 

Reider, a Californian-born Nelson resident, said she was excited to be the first person to legally bring raw cannabis flower into New Zealand.

Carterton mother Tracy Yeats hopes the government will take notice of a survey which shows overwhelming support for the legalisation and decriminalisation of cannabis for medicinal use.

Mrs Yeats’ daughter Grace, 14, has shown significant improvements in her health since she began taking Sativex, a cannabis based spray, eight months ago.

She has a rare condition, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, or Adem, which robbed her of speech and movement four years ago.

The then ten-year-old Saint Mary’s schoolgirl was left cognitively unimpaired but unable to walk, talk, eat or sit.

Analysis - 72 percent support in February. 79 percent by August.

They're the poll results politicians dream of - but it's support for medical marijuana that's hauling in the big numbers.

Until this year, the last time New Zealanders were asked for their views on legalising cannabis for medical use was in 2006, when a TV3/TNS poll reported 63 percent support.

And though it still lags behind, personal possession for any kind of use was at 64 percent support in the New Zealand Drug Foundation-commissioned poll released yesterday- up from a 50-50 split in February, and a huge rise from the mid-30 percent range it has languished in since the 1990s.

Prime Minister John Key says decriminalising cannabis would send the wrong message to young people - and he isn't keen on holding a referendum on the issue.

A new poll shows almost 65 per cent of New Zealanders want personal possession of cannabis decriminalised or made legal.

There is even stronger support to let people use cannabis for pain relief - only 16 per cent of New Zealanders want that to be criminal.

Speaking at his post Cabinet press conference yesterday, Key said his view was changing the law would send the wrong message to younger people.

He did not back a referendum on the issue, and pointed to the recent outcry over shops selling "legal highs" or synthetic cannabis products, before the Government stepped in.

One in 20 New Zealand citizens acknowledge having used cannabis for therapeutic purposes over the past year, according to an analysis of nationwide health survey data published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

Respondents were most likely to acknowledge using cannabis to mitigate symptoms of pain, anxiety, depression, and nausea.

The possession and use of cannabis, including its medicinal use, is criminalized in New Zealand.