Cannabis referendum: medical cannabis bosses divided on legalization

Key players in New Zealand’s burgeoning medical cannabis industry are divided over whether the plant should be legalized.

While neither have plans to enter the recreational market, one company says New Zealand’s medical profession is not ready for legalization.

Others say that kiwis are already consuming illicit cannabis and that the country needs a regulated market because prohibition has caused more social harm than good.

In October, New Zealanders will vote on the cannabis control and legalization bill, which was drafted to give Kiwis an idea of ​​what the law for recreational cannabis might look like.

Greg Mission, managing director of the fast-growing Bay of Plenty medical cannabis company, Eqalis, said his stance on legalization was clear: “not yet.”

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Mission said it takes time for the medical profession to catch up and properly engage in the field “before the floodgates open.”

“We just need more time to explore the potentially huge improvements that this complex plant and all its compounds can have on the health and well-being of our community,” he said.

“We have been without choice for so long, why is it so difficult to wait and allow the medical profession to catch up?”

New Zealand Medical Journal research indicated that 79% of New Zealand general practitioners had concerns about prescribing medical cannabis.

Eqalis “strongly” supported the decriminalization and over-the-counter sales of medical grade cannabidiol (CBD).

Mission had seen in trials patients using pharmaceutical grade cannabis products to treat serious health conditions with vast improvements.

But he cautioned that it could be different for patients who choose to self-medicate.

Each person had a different metabolic rate for various components of cannabis, such as CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

There was also a “sizable group of people” who had a genetic predisposition to THC psychosis.

“There are strains that can produce more than 30 percent THC, so if you extract that in your kitchen using online tips, the extract you get is hugely potent. One drop of that could blow your mind. “

Mark Lucas, co-founder of the Hamilton-based Cannasouth biopharmaceutical company, said the company had not commented on legalization because it was a “public problem.”

Lucas said the reality was that many New Zealanders used cannabis extensively.

“Some people get confused and think [legalisation] it is about creating a new market, but it is not. It’s about reducing damage and creating as little retail space as possible. “

He said that “it is not true that cannabis does not exist and the referendum will ignite it”, but that it already existed and the new legal framework would regulate him and those who control that industry.

“What do we want to control: the illicit market or the legislation and the government?”

Manu Caddy of the Gisborne-based medical cannabis company Rua Bioscience said that around 3,000 people are still convicted of cannabis-related crimes each year in New Zealand, many of them for cultivation.

The company supported the ‘Yes’ vote because cannabis prohibition had caused significant harm to society.

The anti-Maori bias in police discretion on these matters is well documented, Caddy said.

One year after legalization in Canada, cannabis use among young people dropped significantly. In Colorado, which was legalized in 2012, cannabis-related arrests of indigenous youth were also reduced.

“These are positive results and one of the strongest arguments for legalization with strict regulation is that it reduces the use and access of young people, as we have seen abroad.”

Caddy said that medical cannabis products could be a bit more accessible to patients, but the biggest barrier was still high cost.

“This is why many patients support legalization.”

Paul Manning, CEO of Auckland-based largest medical cannabis company, Helius Therapeutics, said he also supported legalization.

This was due to the high number of people who already use cannabis and “obviously do so entirely through the illicit market.”

“[The illicit market] where there are no quality standards, identifications are not requested, varying degrees of quality and potency, none of those controls exist under the current [prohibition] regime, and there is damage caused by that, no doubt ”.

The ban “has failed to reduce the harm,” he said.

Instead, controlling cannabis and applying quality standards to products to sell through responsible retailers could create jobs and tax revenue.

If legalized, a new “cannabis wellness industry” is likely to emerge, not produced under the medical cannabis scheme, but recreational.

Products from this industry could be beneficial for minor health problems, which he estimated could be worth around $ 700 million.

“This could include CBD supplements, pills, CBD cosmetics, etc., products that you wouldn’t go to the doctor for, as they are more like vitamins and health supplements.”

But Manning cautioned that anyone with a serious medical condition should first seek the help of a healthcare professional.

“What we don’t want is to create a market where there are many patients with serious illnesses who self-prescribe.”