Saturday, March 30, 2024

No vote a missed opportunity for hemp industry

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The no vote majority in the referendum asking whether to legalise cannabis usage in New Zealand has been called a missed opportunity by New Zealand Hemp Industries Association (NZHIA) chair Richard Barge.
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A yes vote could have given the hemp industry a means to further push for regulatory change, allowing growers the chance to utilise the cannabidiol (CBD) parts of the hemp plant.

Under current regulations, products containing cannabidiol (CBD) with less than 2% Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are classified as medicine.

NZHIA would like to see hemp regulations transferred to the MPI.

“If there had been a yes vote, there would have been a select committee established to look at the cannabis bill and that would have given us a forum to talk about the wider cannabis industry. including medial and low THC, industrial hemp and recreation,” Barge said.

“It would have given us that platform to have that serious conversation around all aspects of the cannabis legislation, because of course if you are going to allow high THC products for adult use, then it strengthens the case for the Government to accept that low THC industrial hemp needs to be controlled in the same way.”

He says that conversation was still an important one to have and the Association was interested in pursuing it once the new government was up and running.

“It comes down to a political conversation which is motivated by consumers. We need consumers to get out there and talk to their MPs and say that they want access to CBD,” he said.

The preliminary results of the cannabis referendum showed 53.1 % of voters said no to a question of whether the Government should legislate to legalise recreational cannabis. 

The Government said it will abandon the draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, with former Justice Minister Andrew Little saying he would respect the result.

While the cultivation of hemp is permitted in NZ to produce hemp seed oil products as well as fibre, the regulations preventing utilising parts of the plant containing CBD mean growers are unable to create and sell products in the lucrative nutraceutical industry.

A report released in September by NZHIA predicts this market could be worth $1.5 billion by 2030. 

Barge says they had already prepared briefings to the relevant ministers and plan to send copies of NZHIA’s report to new ministers.

He says the referendum decision had little direct impact on the hemp industry as it has had regulations in place since 2006 and an established industrial framework.

In the meantime, the industry will continue to develop and grow the hemp fibre and hemp seed industries, which the report said could be worth $500 million by 2030.

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