Last week, a New Zealand company received the first multi-million-dollar foreign investment in the archipelago nation\u2019s nascent cannabis industry. And with a referendum on the general legalization of cannabis on track for next year, hopes are high.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0New Zealand Herald<\/a>\u00a0reported that newly established\u00a0Pure Cann New Zealand<\/a>\u2014 which counts former\u00a0Air New Zealand<\/a>\u00a0boss Rob Fyfe as its executive chair \u2014 has secured $6 million from Australia\u2019s\u00a0Cann Group<\/a>\u00a0for a 20% stake. Cann Group was the first company to win a cultivation license in Australia, which has\u00a0had a medical marijuana program<\/a>\u00a0since 2016. Cann Group is itself is\u00a020% owned<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Aurora Cannabis<\/a>, one of Canada\u2019s biggest licensed producers.<\/p>\n The funds are to be transferred in stages as New Zealand unfolds its new regulation regime for medical marijuana cultivations, with approval for a cultivation facility anticipated this year. Prospects could soar if voters approve cannabis legalization in next year\u2019s referendum, which the Labour Party<\/a>\u00a0government agreed to as a condition of a \u201cconfidence and supply<\/a>\u201d deal with the\u00a0Green Party<\/a>. Cann Group has the option to increase its share to 30%.<\/p>\n This development comes five months after the government both passed a medical marijuana law and\u00a0committed to hold the legalization referendum<\/a> in 2020. Yet, despite this progress, there may be some clouds on the horizon.<\/p>\n In some counterintuitive news, just as the Cann Group investment story broke,\u00a0Stuff.co.nz<\/a>\u00a0reported that New Zealand\u2019s police \u201chad a bumper haul of cannabis last year.\u201d Figures released to Stuff under the Official Information Act revealed that officers confiscated almost 800,000 grams of harvested cannabis in 2018, with a claimed total \u201cstreet value\u201d of more than $15 million \u2014 surpassing the totals for\u00a0the previous three years.<\/p>\n The number of confiscated plants did decrease, dropping to about 45,000 from some 180,000 in 2015. The number of people appearing before district courts on cannabis charges also dropped \u2014 leading the\u00a0New Zealand Drug Foundation<\/a>\u00a0to describe the situation as \u201cdecriminalization by stealth.\u201d But seizures of harvested bud jumped, with the illicit cultivation hubs being named as Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Northland, all on the North Island.<\/p>\n Detective Superintendent Greg Williams of the\u00a0New Zealand Police<\/a>\u00a0told Stuff that officers are still putting \u201csignificant resources\u201d into hunting out large-scale cannabis grows, which he said are \u201cpredominantly associated with organized crime.\u201d<\/p>\n In all-too-familiar prohibitionist verbiage, he added: \u201cCannabis, particularly its manufacture, distribution and supply, continues to be an important focus for police given its links to organized crime and the harm it causes in our communities. Cultivation remains an important part of illicit drug supply in New Zealand for gangs and organized crime.\u201d<\/p>\n The prohibitionist lobby is already hard at work trying to turn public opinion ahead of next year\u2019s vote.\u00a0Stuff also reported<\/a>\u00a0last week that the conservative group\u00a0Family First<\/a>\u00a0released a \u201cshock poll,\u201d conducted for the group by reputable market research firm\u00a0Curia<\/a>, with just 18% of respondents supporting \u201clifting restrictions\u201d on recreational cannabis use. Yet this was in dramatic contrast to the 65% supporting legalization or decriminalization of personal use in a poll by the same firm in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n This appears to be a study in how surveys get the results they want by how they craft the questions. The Family First poll also included several questions seemingly designed to prejudice the outcome of the \u201clifting restrictions\u201d question. These included: \u201cAre tobacco companies pushing for cannabis legalization?\u201d and \u201cDo you think that drivers using cannabis are more likely or less likely to cause accidents?\u201d<\/p>\n More disconcertingly, One News<\/a> reported earlier in April on an uninspiring exchange in\u00a0Parliament, when the conservative\u00a0National Party<\/a>\u2018s Paula Bennett questioned Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on details of what will be proposed in the upcoming referendum \u2014 and the process for making it happen in a legally binding manner.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen will the cannabis referendum bill be introduced to the House?\u201d Bennett asked. Ardern replied in classically noncommittal terms: \u201cThe question as to whether or not there would be a bill more broadly, that\u2019s something that will be announced once Cabinet has finalized its decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Next asked if she could confirm whether legislation needs to be passed approving the referendum in order for it to be binding, Ardern again responded by punting to her cabinet: \u201cOnce Cabinet has finalized its decisions, we will be making announcements to the degree of detail.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n One News reported<\/a> on May 2 that the Justice Ministry is preparing to hand in its proposal for the shape of the referendum question to the full cabinet next week.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0do you think countries should legalize cannabis?<\/p>\n The post Police Pot Seizures Rise As New Zealand Approaches Legalization Referendum<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Last week, a New Zealand company received the first multi-million-dollar foreign investment in the archipelago nation\u2019s nascent cannabis industry. And with a referendum on the general legalization of cannabis on track for next year, hopes are high. The\u00a0New Zealand Herald\u00a0reported that newly established\u00a0Pure Cann New Zealand\u2014 which counts former\u00a0Air NewContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,139,4318,1112,9886,81,9887,9888],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35032,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35031\/revisions\/35032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Police Seizures of Cannabis Are Up in New Zealand<\/h4>\n
Balking on the Legalization Referendum?<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Police Pot Seizures Rise As New Zealand Approaches Legalization Referendum<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"