A middle class Medicinal cannabis industry is a middle class solution

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Dr Buzz Kill

This cannabis medicine for people with seizures should have always been available, pretending this is some great moment misreads how poorly the regulators planned things…

Ministry of Health approves homegrown cannabis to be turned into medicine for Kiwi patients

From today, New Zealand-grown medicinal cannabis can be prescribed here for the first time. 

The Ministry of Health has just approved homegrown and manufactured medicines – so Kiwis no longer have to rely on imported medicinal cannabis. 

…this is just another attempt to make the industry look like it’s doing something meaningful, a bit like Labour on Housing.

- Sponsor Promotion -

If cannabis were legalised, the New Zealand industry could employ about 5000 people and reap almost $1.1 billion in taxes a year, two in-depth reports by Business and Economic Research Ltd have shown.

We haven’t ended up with that promise of cannabis in NZ.

This Medicinal Cannabis Industry is a rigged market just like the Supermarket industry that has allowed basic refined medicine that gives none of the enjoyment of cannabis for a product that should have always been available for people with seizures.

This isn’t a success, it’s another broken market rigged for the super rich.

The only winners are organised crime who continue to sell to a market of stoners who refuse to engage in the profit margins of the corporate pharmaceutical industry.

The failures of the Medicinal Cannabis market manages to highlight all the problems with Labour – no ability to actually deliver.

 

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24 COMMENTS

  1. Yep, Andrew has some sort of problem with Cannabis that’s for sure, as indicated by his spring loaded response to the release of the Cannabis Referendum final result. I almost believe that had the YES vote prevailed by the same slim margin as the Nopes that the Govt. would not have abided by the result.

    Jacinda did not help one little bit either, so one can only think she has problems with Cannabis too. Labour technically did what it had to for the Greens by running the Referendum. And then they distanced themselves like people do with a turd in a swimming pool.

    Then COVID interrupted the flow of the campaign from the pro lobby, which was all over the road without a united approach anyway. And, some genius invited the US prohibitionist Cannabis group SAM–Smart Approaches to Marijuana–to join in. SAM shared an office and ISP with Family First and spent hundreds of thousands more than allowed on the Nope Campaign. So it was a right fuck up. No interest from the Govt. in looking into that little affair.

    So, we keep on campaigning, and Greens and the rest of us better make sure Cannabis legalisation and industry establishment is high up the agenda if another Labour Govt. is going to happen and needs support parties.

    • Jacinda actively kneecapped dear Chloe with her comments of ‘not having an opinion’. The PM no having an opinion on laws that are blatantly racists, outdated and that cost the country a huge amount of money on incarceration, police time and other assorted misery.

        • We had a massive misinformation campaign to deal with that went against what a govt instigated review found but the govt wouldnt shut them down.
          Right wing religion ruined the referendum.
          Its a shame Family First New Zealand lost their charity status just recently, it was their Nope to Dope campaign that screwed it.
          Their donations amounted to over a million dollars to spread misinformation in full page newspaper ads, getting on TV. on radios, they even held seminars at every church from cape reanga to bluff.
          Sucked all those boomers back into the war on drugs mantra, Thats what lost the referendum.

          • Fair call Mark.
            I am seeing the same right wing media campaign in full force on behalf of Nact attacking Labour as a lead up to the election and it’s only going to get “dirty politics” worse.

  2. Ability? They have the ability. A full blown majority has provided Labour with the ‘ability’ to do what they want, literally. Their issue and the issue for the country is that They DON”T WANT TO DO certain things. Like decriminalizing/legalizing weed, and turning it into a proper industry that is regulated, taxed and legal. That is the issue with Labour. That THEY DON”T WANT TO DO.
    Labour is the naked emperor in the room, and everyone is tired of seeing them flashing their uncovered junk.

  3. state monopoly would be best and taxed like ciggies..growers have a guaranteed market, gangs get shafted and tax rolls in..win win win
    the only flaw is if priced too high people will(as they are starting to with tobacco) grow their own and we’re back to square one.

  4. 25 years of trying to get medical cannabis, watching friends die and committee suicide during the wait was hard.

    But, it feels worse now. A system which would not have helped any of them. A system so difficult to manage your way through. And so bloody expensive that people are asking family and friends for help with costs, is heartbreaking.

    This is the part which causes so much frustration and disgust with the labour party. They can’t even get a simple medical product out to people, without it being captured by the GREEDY.

    Greed, will destroy our world. It might have already won.

  5. While I think marijuana, particularly the modern varieties, is one of the most evil drugs around, for its effect on the general attitude of the user, it would make a heck of a lot more sense to just legalize personal growing of a few plants than to make it another business.

    The ‘legal weed’ outfits in the US are just making more and more potent weed, not just applying selective breeding but even genetic engineering, and it’s doing awful things for rates of cannabis-induced psychosis.
    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-weed-became-new-oxycontin-marijuana-psychosis-addiction

    • Mercenary Big Pharma and Big Tobacco and THC addiction/dependence economics. The bump from 2 to 20% from 2% THC to 20% and then the focus on the delivery of a near exclusive THC product.

      There are useful (other) components in the plant that help with nausea and recovery.

      The primary non-psychoactive compound in cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD) suppresses nausea and vomiting within a limited dose range. Cannabidiol also seems to have anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, analgesic, anxiolytic, and pain-relieving properties which can be potential mediators of recovery in athletes during regular training and competition.

      Thus the old fashioned low 2% THC plants, or varieties with even lower THC being legally available for those with health conditions as a low cost option. With the commercially developed medicinal product being available for those who can afford it, or on government subsidy/health insurance.

    • Incredible to think that it was when the police started using choppers to find cannabis in New Zealand that was when growers moved indoors under lights to avoid detection, and it was at that point that more potent strains began being developed. Later as police enforcement increased creating scarcity was when the meth issue began.

  6. It’s not a middle class solution…why? The Cannabis Medical Providers are charging $770 for an ounce (30 grams) — the blackmarket is between $350 – $500 (depending on supply and demand)…it is upper class prices …the 1% — which NZ MPs are

  7. $770 ! Jesus! Where’d I put my gardening gloves?
    May West said ” Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”
    Pot’s funny stuff. If you haven’t smoked for a long time then lean into what you used to smoke you’ll end up hiding under the sofa while whimpering and praying for a merciful death.
    But if you ease into it, you’ll be fine. Receptors in the brain develop a tolerance over a period of pot smoking time but if you stop using that tolerance returns to its previous state. So it’s not necessarily that pot’s getting stronger, it may be that one’s tolerance is less robust. At least dope won’t kill you like booze does.
    The other thing about this matter is that if you think our politicians can make brave and creative decisions, think again. We’re owned, if there are nine multi billionaire kiwis and God only knows how many others who’ve bought residency with a shitty 10 million. We may walk about and do our thing but when four very active members of the ‘financial services industry’ aka foreign owned banksters who literally steal billions from our small and vulnerable country can do so unchallenged then we surely must agree that we’re not in control. At all. Take particular note of Iceland’s nightmare situation. They got fucked by the banks. We should look on at an ominous omen.
    ‘Inside Job.’ Narrated by Matt Damon.
    https://youtu.be/T2IaJwkqgPk
    “Ferguson, who began researching in 2008, says the film is about “the systemic corruption of the United States by the financial services industry and the consequences of that systemic corruption”. In five parts, the film explores how changes in the policy, environment and banking practices helped create the financial crisis.”
    Our politicians don’t mean shit. We, the public are barely relevant. Probably more an annoyance than any thing. Pot is one thing that’s dangerous. It allows people to interact. To gather. To communicate. To socialise. To share. And what might happen then if we suddenly became aware of the terrible predators breathing down our beautiful, lucky necks in these heady times?
    There’s far more to this than meets the eye.

    • That might be so for those using the old strength field plant (2% THC). But the modern plants are now 20% THC. This now leaves users dependent on drug testers (or the plant growers if they get it direct) for information (as with “dance” party drugs).

  8. Why be surprised that this government is breaking another promise . Does this let down rate worse than no children sleeping in cars affordable homes better help to mental health for children improved public transport less strain on health workers smaller classes the list goes on .
    It will be interesting at the next election how they will make promises to improve thinks not done properly by the ,as government which was their catch cry 2017 and 2020

    • Perhaps Labour could use Nationals tactic of ” there is no housing crisis or health crisis or any other crisis ” because denial was an easy out for National. Now it’s an absolute and all Labours doing.
      National simply can’t be trusted to tell the truth Trevor and without Winston I would hate to see the state of our country today with them in charge. Care workers earning $23 an hour, no chance.

  9. Disgusting worms in parliament handed the whole industry to a bunch of corporates who magically appeared out of nowhere. Not one of them campaigned for the change.
    The people made it an election issue because the pharma versions were too expensive so what did politicians do? Over regulated a local industry that makes it too expensive!
    What bothers me now is we can get raw leaf on prescription but at the same time the police are still calling raw leaf from a tinny house harm to the community, there is now no difference between what is on the street and what comes in a bottle with a label on it!

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