Taylor’s cannabis plan
Should Mark Taylor end up returning to New Zealand, he says he wants to start up a medicinal cannabis company here.
Taylor, who is being held captive in Syria, has been interviewed by a Kiwi journalist from his Kurdish prison cell.
Radio NZ spoke to Kiwi journalist Campbell MacDiarmid yesterday, who has recently interviewed the ‘‘quite subdued’’ Taylor.
‘‘He left Isis because he was basically starving and had been reduced to begging and scavenging, so he was definitely subdued when I spoke to him. But at the same time he was still fairly steadfast in his beliefs,’’ MacDiarmid told Radio NZ.
‘‘He didn’t have regrets about joining Isis, he had regrets about how that had subsequently turned out for him later.’’
The New Zealand Government has all but washed its hands of him. The Government made its position on Taylor clear; he will stay over there unless he can get to Turkey, where New Zealand has a diplomatic presence. However, figureheads have also said they won’t deny Taylor his basic human rights and won’t leave him stateless.
MacDiarmid said Taylor seemed surprised by that response. However, he also said Taylor didn’t seem to understand the magnitude of the situation he was in.
‘‘He actually said he felt stabbed in the back because apparently he’s been in touch with New Zealand intelligence,’’ MacDiarmid said. Taylor claimed that intelligence had previously been urging him to leave Isis. ‘‘I think he assumed that once he left, he could expect some kind of assistance to get him back to New Zealand.’’ MacDiarmid said he didn’t think New Zealand would be the ‘‘first place in the world Taylor would choose to go’’ if he left Syria.
‘‘He did ask whether he’d be able to get his passport back and go to Indonesia.’’ MacDiarmid also said Taylor was keen to enter the marijuana industry.
‘‘He said he’s interested in starting a business and he’d heard there was going to be a referendum on cannabis and he was interested in starting a medicinal cannabis company of some kind.
‘‘And if the referendum didn’t pass, maybe a business could be with coffee.’’
When asked whether Taylor had been in touch with anyone from New Zealand recently, MacDiarmid said he didn’t believe so.
‘‘I believe he said he hasn’t been in touch with anyone since he’s been held in prison.’’