Puro product packaging in Australia. Photo: SUPPLIED/PURO NZ
New Zealand has very few ventures producing medicinal cannabis, and the one that's doing really well doesn't sell directly to New Zealanders.
It used to be the drug synonymous with hot-boxed cars and doped-up teenagers but in 2025 the perception of cannabis is changing.
In some countries you'll find it in lotions, gummy bears, even drinks. It's widely available and used for general well-being.
Tim Aldridge is the co-founder of Puro, a cannabis cultivator based in Blenheim. He's just returned from London where he finalised what's believed to be the world's largest organic cannabis deal.
"We were sitting down having a drink in the pub and on the menu, under soft drinks, is CBD water," Aldridge said.
Worth almost $16 million, this deal will see Puro products exported to the UK. It's a huge milestone for the company and comes after many years of hard work.
"We like to joke in this industry that one year is equal to dog years, so every year is seven years of our life," he laughed.
Aldridge chooses to focus on the export market, where demand is high, because the domestic one is difficult to break into.
"So we would have to send our product to Australia to be packaged and then once they're in Australia we would bring them back in but the time and cost of doing that is just economically prohibitive.
"Plus the demand for our products in Australia and offshore is just considerable," he said.
Aldridge has been in touch with the Ministry for Regulation with proposals and ideas to make things easier for domestic growers.
"We wanted to introduce a trial really to allow for a slightly different regulatory approach where the same products are going through to market but the way the packaging is regulated is just a bit more common sense," he said.
The Ministry for Regulation passed him on to the Ministry of Health and ultimately Aldridge made no headway.
The Detail asked the Ministry of Health why the regulations are so strict compared to other countries, and it sent a reply that didn't really answer the question.
However, its statement pointed out that the industry was consulted when the medicinal cannabis scheme was designed, resulting in the regulations introduced in 2019.
"The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme was created to enable patients in New Zealand to have access to quality medicinal cannabis products.
"They also set out a minimum quality standard that all medicinal cannabis products must meet, and once met can be prescribed by all medical practitioners.
"During consultation when the Scheme was designed, Medical Practitioners supported the need for GMP to provide confidence to prescribers in the products they were prescribing.
"Any changes to the current regulations would require legislative change."
Low dose CBD products which have been assessed and approved by Medsafe can be sold by pharmacists, and information on this can be found on the Medsafe website.
Sally King, executive director of the New Zealand Medical Cannabis Council, said New Zealand's standards cannabis for the domestic market are vast and complex.
"You get different licences for different things.
"You may cultivate, and that's one set of licences. You may manufacture, and in almost every case in New Zealand you can't directly give say a cannabis flower to a pharmacy, there is a process of further packaging and refining that is required," she said.
Then there is the licence to be able to sell the product. All the steps and processes are standard for controlled drugs, but King said the difference with cannabis is a botanical plant.
"So every stage of that process there are some pretty strict rules with respect to how a plant may be cultivated, what's in the plant and around the plant, what fertilisers might be used, if any, there's a whole lot of rules," she said.
Currently medicinal cannabis products sold here need to meet the Good Manufacturing Practices, (GMP) but products produced for export need to meet the Good Agricultural and Collection Practices, (GACP).
GMP is the standard that focuses on the manufacturing of products, how they're packaged, and processed; whereas GACP focuses on the cultivation of raw material. The former requires irradiation as part of the manufacturing of cannabis products but Sally thinks the latter is the appropriate standard for medicinal cannabis products, whether they're exported or sold domestically.
"That's how we grow all our food, and it would probably be for almost all medicinal cannabis patients, a suitable level," she said.
King said lowering standards wouldn't compromise quality.
"I think that is one of the concerns of our Medicinal Cannabis Agency. We do have one of the highest standards in the world and it has served us very well, but it does keep prices high for patients," she said.
So does King ever see a day where Kiwis will be able to sit in a local pub and order a glass of CBD water?
"I do believe it will be possible.
"It's going to be, I suspect, as much as anything a question of political will as it is a question of the science, but I would hope that our regulators and also our politicians will see both the opportunity and manage it correctly for the New Zealand market, sooner rather than later."
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