Building a healthy cannabis industry
Budding cannabis start-ups have differing views on how their fledging industry should unfold. Madison Reidy reports.
"A lot of the practices associated with the current black market [are] ... really diametrically oppose the standards we are looking to create." Paul Manning, Helius Therapeutics
Cannabis bought online and delivered to doorsteps in unmarked packaging by a security guard – that’s what the purchase of medicinal cannabis in New Zealand could look like.
Parliament’s Health Committee has received at least 25 submissions from organisations arguing how they would like the production, sale and use of cannabis as medicine to be regulated.
Companies that want to be the first producers and sellers of medicinal cannabis have started making noise, mounting commercial pressure on Parliament to enact the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill.
The creation of a new industry puts companies in a prime position to twist lawmakers’ arms.
How a domestic medicinal cannabis industry would legally operate is largely untouched in the bill, and will be debated by the committee before it is read in Parliament for a second time.
Two companies have publicised their intent to grow medicinal cannabis commercially, but they are at odds over some issues.
Hikurangi Hemp, of health company Hikurangi Group, grows and processes low-THC cannabis on private land near Gisborne.
It was the first company to say it wanted to sell its products to terminally ill patients if the Government legalised it.
But Hikurangi is no longer a monopoly.
Helius Therapeutics, an Auckland company started quietly last year by two former executives and a United States cannabis industry businessman, went public with its plans this month.
Helius director Paul Manning said the company had intentionally kept a low profile but it was about to finalise investment deals totalling $15 million.
One third of that money would go toward fitting-out a highsecurity production facility, Manning said.
Helius claims to ‘‘specialise’’ in manufacturing medicinal cannabis, but it has no manufacturing operations in New Zealand yet because it is still to be granted a licence to grow cannabis for research purposes.
Hikurangi is already licensed to grow cannabis for a Crown Research Institute and a private research company.
Helius and Hikurangi disagree most on hiring employees with criminal records.
Some of Hikurangi’s staff who are already cultivating cannabis in Ruatoria, near Gisborne, have drug-related convictions for growing, selling and using marijuana.
Hikurangi managing director Manu Caddie said those staff had the best experience for the job and it would be a shame to exclude them from the industry.
It fought to keep them as employees in its submission.
Manning said Helius would never recruit staff with any conviction.
‘‘A lot of the practices associated with the current black market recreational cannabis cultivation industry, really diametrically oppose the standards we are looking to create.’’
Unprocessed cannabis, a dried plant to be smoked, may not be allowed to be sold as a medicinal product.
The New Zealand Medical Association argued against the idea in its submission.
However, Hikurangi and Helius are both advocating for it. They want cannabis ‘‘flowers’’ to be included in their product ranges.
The rest of their products are more likely to resemble medicine in the form of injections, capsules or topical creams of varying potency levels and ratios of the cannibinoids THC and CBD.
Helius and Hikurangi both want to sell CBD oil: Helius’ in the form of capsules or drops, and Hikurangi’s in a syringe.
New Zealand is not set to get the ‘‘pot shops’’ prevalent in some United States states and Canada.
According to the bill, it will be presciption-only in New Zealand, meaning medical practitioners will make the call on who can use medicinal cannabis.
Practitioners could only prescribe it to the terminally ill, which is defined as a person with less than 12 months left to live.
Numerous submissions argued for the scope to include nonterminal, severely ill people.
Whether those prescribed it would have it administered by a doctor or nurse, pick it up from a nearby pharmacy, or directly from a producer, is yet to be decided, or even debated.
Helius and Hikurangi want a seed-to-sale industry where they grow it, process it and sell it. That approach would avoid pharmacies completely, and cut out any middlemen.
Helius wants to sell its products online, and deliver it to patients’ homes via a secure courier.
An online shop would create a database where ‘‘it is possible to track every single seed, all the way through to patient consumption’’, Helius’ submission said.
Authorities would have access to Helius’ database.
As the bill stands, it does not allow producers to export. In fact, it does not mention it.
Hikurangi want the Government to add exporting to the bill.
‘‘These would be some of the highest value primary products ever exported from New Zealand,’’ Hikurangi’s submission said.
Caddie said if Hikurangi could sell its products to the world, it would turn over $1 billion within three years.
It has already penned a $160m export deal with a United States distributor and is in talks with similar companies in Europe.
Manning said exporting would benefit the industry financially, but it was not Helius’ priority.
Helius would export products ‘‘down the track, should the opportunity be provided to us by the Government, but our business is not contingent on export at all,’’ he said.