NZ medicinal cannabis producers veer away from local market for export
Instead, many opted for export markets that had easier pathways to market, like Australia or European countries like Germany.
More growers, more products
The number of medicinal cannabis licence holders reporting to the Ministry of Health was growing steadily from 29 in 2020 to 52 last year, and 13 were already lodged in 2025, as growers had to renew their licences annually.
The use of medicinal cannabis was on the rise in New Zealand too, following the establishment of the medicinal cannabis scheme under the Ministry of Health in 2020.
The Health Ministry's data showed the number of packs of medicinal cannabis prescribed and supplied in New Zealand had increased 12-fold in the five years since, to more than 305,000 packs of flower or oil products in 2024.
A spokesperson for Medsafe, the medicines regulator, said 60 medicinal cannabis products were verified as meeting the 'minimum quality standard'.
'This ensures that a product is of acceptable quality and free from contaminants such as pesticides and heavy metals ... and bacteria or moulds,' they said.
'Unlike approved medicines, verified products have not been assessed for their safety or effectiveness.'
The Medsafe spokesperson said ensuring cannabis and medicinal cannabis products for prescription were of high quality was achieved through the licensing regime for cultivation and supply, as well as a verification scheme for the products.
They said there were two medicinal cannabis products approved as medicines under the Medicines Act 1981.
No medicinal cannabis products were yet funded by Pharmac.
However, there were two outstanding applications for cannabidiol products, with one dating back as far as a decade.
In recent years, Pharmac had said evidence around medicinal cannabis was generally of poor quality and didn't capture long-term risks.
Funding applications required a 'clearly defined patient population', good quality supporting evidence and long-term outcome and safety data.
The grower's balance sheet
Medicinal cannabis growers faced several licences, audits, fees and checks by regulators; for example, one grower could face $20,000 in charges and fees in just one year.
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) licences were required for specific technical processes throughout production, including packing up picked, freeze-dried cannabis flowers.
Marlborough's Puro company was unable to secure a GMP licence specifically for packing at its site, so it sent freeze-dried flowers in bulk to Australia for packing, which it then sold there, instead of re-importing for the New Zealand market.
Executive chairman Tim Aldridge said that despite meeting quality product standards, regulatory settings around GMP codes for manufacturing effectively blocked the company from accessing the domestic market.
He said the regulatory framework advantaged importers, and unnecessary high costs were restricting treatment options for patients who ultimately inherited the costs.
'A lot of patients out there, they can't afford these medicines,' Aldridge said.
'It's not so much the subsidy and sort of co-funding, it actually is allowing the regulations to be more pragmatic and ensuring products can go to market because that drives the cost down.
'And the products that we're producing are a lot safer than what are available in some of the illicit channels.'
He said Pharmac was part of that conversation 'to a degree', but he wanted officials and policymakers to consider possible improvements to regulations.
'The most important message for us is to actually ensure we can compete with the products that have been imported into New Zealand, given that you know what we are producing is world-class.
'So that requires a bit of regulatory tweaking.'
Aldridge said other New Zealand companies were also struggling with GMP licences and other technical issues involved in production.
NZX-listed company Rua Bioscience decided to sell its Good Manufacturing Practice-certified, purpose-built manufacturing facility in Tairāwhiti in 2023, shortly after building it, to instead focus on outsourcing cultivation and manufacturing.
Chief executive Paul Naske said GMP verification was expensive and made it hard to innovate new products, as licences were specific to certain products or processes.
'Everyone in the industry is trying to muddle their way through the regulations,' he said.
'New Zealand regulations make it particularly onerous.
'New Zealand is not going to be competitive for GMP manufacturing for medicinal cannabis products.'
Naske said there was a struggle between the medicinal and agricultural elements of the sector.
Advertisement Advertise with NZME.
'It was initially about satisfying patient demand.
'But it [was] never intended to create a local industry.'
'So products are imported, but patients are still getting access to them.'
GMP internationally agreed
Tim Aldridge raised the 'red tape' concern by email to the Ministry for Regulation.
Conversely, the Ministry for Regulation was reviewing the regulations around cousin sector, industrial hemp, announced in February, which may see legislation introduced to remove licensing requirements.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content was around 0.3% for industrial hemp versus 20-30% or more for medicinal cannabis, and both were managed by lead agency, the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry for Regulation referred Aldridge's submission to the Ministry of Health in February as the lead agency.
MedSafe confirmed the Ministry of Health received feedback from the industry, including from the New Zealand Medicinal Cannabis Council, of which Aldridge was a board member.
'[We] will consider this in the context of any further changes to medicinal cannabis regulation,' a spokesperson said.
The Medsafe spokesperson said it used the 'internationally agreed' GMP code of practice among countries like Germany and Australia.
They said the system provided assurances that products were consistently produced, manufactured, packed and controlled, according to set quality standards for medicines and medicinal cannabis products.
'An important factor in producing high-quality products is ensuring that the facilities they are manufactured in meet quality standards and that there is an effective quality assurance system.'
Making green from the green?
Medicinal Cannabis Council chief executive Sally King said there were expenses involved throughout the production process for local producers, with many facing a six-figure investment to establish growing operations.
She said while imports were also bound by quality standards, New Zealanders would prefer locally-grown products.
'It has to meet the qualifying standard, but it takes a great deal of time and effort and capital to go up that curve to be able to manufacture to the very high New Zealand standards,' she said.
'We really are hoping to see a great many more domestically grown medicinal cannabis options for patients here, but it's taking time.
'It certainly is happening, but it is taking time and the majority of the market at the moment is dominated by imported product.'
King said the council remained a patient advocate and that better funding to improve access to the products would ultimately help patients.
'This is not a funded medicine.
'It's expensive for patients, but patients do prefer many of the benefits that come from having a domestically-grown product.'
She said, unfortunately, research opportunities into medicinal cannabis were being hindered by regulations, too, which hurts the case for Pharmac to fund these products.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Attitude to eye health criticised
A multinational pharmaceutical company has stooped to "punching down" on New Zealand's disabled community while promoting its vision loss treatment, a Dunedin advocate says. Market research by the New Zealand arm of Roche, a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company, was released last week and said while most people understood the importance of vision, public awareness of specific eye conditions, symptoms and how to prevent vision loss remained low. "New Zealanders overwhelmingly value their vision above all other senses according to recent market research, with participants saying they'd be willing to lose 5.6 years of perfect health, rather than live a decade without sight," the company's media release began. In New Zealand, Roche distributes Vabysmo, a medicine approved by MedSafe to treat age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the country. Blind and low vision advocate and Dunedin resident Julie Woods, who is also known as "That Blind Woman", said it "distresses" her the company was comparing hypothetical trade-offs between life expectancy and vision loss. "That just shows how afraid people are of vision loss," she said. "You can live a perfectly good life without vision, but you can't without your health." She said preserving eye health was "obviously" a great cause. "But it doesn't give organisations the right to push their own product and put down [or punch] down a community of people." Ms Woods said Roche's approach spoke to a medical model of disability which was: "we can't fix you, therefore you're broken". "Whereas the social model of disability says that we are disabled by the barriers that society creates, and we're not broken and we're not less than." She said Roche's use of New Zealanders' fears of not seeing loved ones' faces or recognising facial expressions, body language and social cues was "bull...." and was emotive toward sighted people. A Roche spokesperson said the market research was based on a similar study conducted in the United Kingdom and the company sought guidance from professionals within the eye community, including a patient advocacy group. "Their advice advocated for raising awareness about the importance of eye health and regular eye examinations to prevent irreversible, yet preventable, vision loss," the spokesperson said. "The intent of the campaign was to raise awareness of the importance of eye health and preventable vision loss, encouraging individuals to get their eyes tested or seek help if they are experiencing symptoms." The spokesperson said Roche respected Ms Woods' opinion and acknowledged her advocacy for the blind and low vision community in New Zealand.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Increased movement of people making dengue outbreaks more common, says mosquito expert
The Lautoka City Council carried out anti mosquito spraying soon after a Dengue Clean Up campaign over the weekend. Photo: Ministry of Health & Medical Services - Fiji Dengue fever outbreaks have been surging in recent decades but new initiatives like infecting mosquitos with bacteria or genetic modification could dramatically slow the spread. According to the World Health Organization there was just over 500,0000 reported cases in 2000 - ballooning to 5.2 million in 2019. Last year, there were 14 million dengue cases - a record number dwarfing the previous 2023 high of 6.5 million. This year, there's been 2.5 million. Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands have all declared dengue outbreaks . Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have each had at least one death from the viral infection. Greg Devine from the World Mosquito Program said increased globalisation is making outbreaks more common. Devine said mosquitos that carry the virus "hitchhike around the world" and the increased movement of people is increasing those infected by dengue. Devine said a lot of people also don't have immunity. "They don't have any protection against it because they've never been exposed to it before," he said. "Dengue comes in four different serotypes, so just because you've had one doesn't mean you can't get another." Photo: 123RF He said climate change was having an increasing impact . "We are hotter and wetter than we've ever been before and that's great for mosquitoes. It also means that the virus in mosquitoes is replicating more rapidly." The aedes aegypti mosquito - which carries dengue - is considered a tropical or subtropical mosquito, but Devine said warmer weather would also increase the mosquitoes' range of where it inhabits. In the Pacific, health ministries are trying to stamp out mosquito breeding grounds and are spraying insecticides outside. But Devine said doing so has had limited success in reducing the spread. He said the aedes aegypti mosquito is "completely reliant upon humans for its blood meals" which meant it liked to stay indoors, not outdoors where the majority of the spraying happens. "Outdoor use of insecticides, it's perhaps better than nothing and the truth is that the community wants to see something happening. "That's a very visible intervention but the reality is, there's a very limited evidence base for its impact." Mosquitoes continually exposed to insecticides would also evolve resistance, Devine said. The World Mosquito Programme infects mosquitos with a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia, which stops viruses like dengue growing in the mosquitoes' bodies. Photo: 123RF "It's been trialled in New Caledonia , where it's been extremely successful," Devine said. "In the years since, the mosquito releases have been made by the World Mosquito Program, there's been no dengue epidemics where once they were extremely common." He said genetically modified mosquitoes were also being looked at as a solution. "That's a different kind of strategy, where you release large numbers of mosquitoes which have been modified in a way which means when those males interact with the local mosquito female population, the resulting offspring are not viable, and so that can crash the entire population." When asked if that could collapse the entire aedes aegypti mosquito population, Devine said he wouldn't be "particularly worried about decimating numbers". "People often refer to it as the kind of cockroach of the mosquito world. "It's very, very closely adapted to the human population in most parts of its range. The species evolved in Africa and has since, spread throughout the world. It's not a particularly important mosquito for many ecosystems."
Scoop
3 days ago
- Scoop
Men's Health Week: Supporting Kiwi Dads For Strong Family Futures
This New Zealand Men's Health Week (9 to 15 June), global parenting advocates and Triple P parents are urging dads, stepdads, grandfathers, father figures, and all parents to take a moment to focus on their mental health and wellbeing – not just for themselves, but for the whole whānau. Triple P Founder and Psychologist Professor Matt Sanders said that in New Zealand, males are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than females yet are the least likely to seek help. 'One in eight men will experience severe depression in their lifetime. So Men's Health Week is a timely reminder to check in with yourself, and those around you.' 'While parents may find it challenging to ask for or access help, it's important to recognise that by looking after yourself as a parent, you're putting yourself in a better position to be calmer, better connected, and more confident in your ability to positively parent positively impacting on your child's health and wellbeing as well,' he said. Triple P is encouraging men to reach out to a mate or their go-to online community to ease the stress. 'No matter what stage of the parenting journey you're at, or the make-up of your family, you're not alone, and you don't have to bear the load in silence,' said Sanders. 'Creating a community of support among parents and carers can help reduce isolation and build stronger families.' 'By being open about your struggles and accessing support, parents and carers can create a positive and loving home environment that strengthens children's emotional resilience and gives them the best start in life,' Professor Sanders said. Triple P parenting tips to help build connection and care for yourself and your family: Check-in with yourself. Parents often put pressure on themselves to 'hold it all together'. Acknowledge any stress or low moods and don't ignore warning signs. Small changes, like making some regular time for yourself, staying active, or connecting with friends, can help prevent stress from building up. Talk it out. Whether it's with a friend, a loved one, Lifeline, or a health professional, sharing what's going on in your life is a positive way to manage stress. Make time for connection. Small moments of time connecting with your family each day can have a huge impact. When your kids want to share something with you, whether it's a story, a problem, or something they're just curious or excited about, tuning in and really listening sends the message that they're loved and important. Model healthy habits. Model the kind of positive health and wellbeing behaviours you want to see in your kids. This includes having a balanced, healthy lifestyle with plenty of sleep, physical activity, healthy food and a positive approach to mental health. Thanks to government funding, Triple P programmes are delivered to families across four regions in New Zealand through a Ministry of Health initiative. Feedback from families that have used Triple P's online programmes is overwhelming positive – with parents and caregivers expressing that they feel calmer, more confident, and are better supported in understanding their children's needs. Delivery of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Programme to parents and carers of children in New Zealand is supported by the New Zealand Government in Waitemata, Counties Manukau, Mid Central and Bay of Plenty, enabling community organisations to offer parenting support to families and whānau. Find out more at:
