The Government is backing an innovative research and development programme to help accelerate the establishment of New Zealand’s medicinal cannabis industry and boost export potential.
The Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFF Futures) is contributing nearly $760,000 to the $1.9 million, three-year programme led by project partner Greenlab, which aims to establish evidence-based medical cannabis cultivation practices.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says New Zealand’s primary industry is built on excellence in applied science and that the investment will see Greenlab’s researchers carrying out rigorous trials and lab testing at its leased facilities at Lincoln University to ensure a consistently high-quality and effective pharmaceutical product.
As medicinal cannabis has only been legal in New Zealand since 2020 there is a lack of available scientific information about how to best cultivate therapeutically active compounds.
“Greenlab aims to generate standard cultivation protocols for a range of New Zealand genetics with the optimised pharmaceutical compounds required by doctors and needed by patients to improve their quality of life,” the Minister says.
“The aim is to establish sustainable and efficient New Zealand-based medical cultivation practices – with the end goal of sharing the findings with other licensed Kiwi growers.
“This funding will ensure these growers have access to essential industry knowledge and insights much further and faster than would have otherwise been possible.”
There are currently 37 medicinal cannabis cultivation licences issued by the Ministry of Health.
Less than 50 hectares is currently planted in medicinal cannabis and the current domestic market is supplied almost completely by imports, at around 1,800 prescriptions per month.
SFF Futures is administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries. Through the fund the Government has to date co-invested more than $142 million into 163 projects worth almost $313 million in total. It’s a key part of the Government’s Fit for a Better World: Accelerating Our Economic Potential Roadmap.
“SFF Futures promotes problem solving and innovation in our food and fibre sectors in order to make a positive and lasting difference.
“A successful medicinal cannabis industry will earn significant export revenue, provide jobs, and produce locally-grown pharmaceutical options for patients,” Damien O’Connor says.
Background on the medicinal cannabis industry
The Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Act was passed in 2018. It gives patients in palliative care the right to possess and use cannabis. The new law also facilitates manufacturing of medicinal cannabis products for local and international markets. Medicinal cannabis use grew by 84 percent in 2020 to 1842 prescriptions per month. The most common reason for use was chronic pain.
In 2019 the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Regulations were introduced. They bring into effect the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme which certifies cannabis products to a minimum quality standard for medicinal use.
So far 37 cultivation licences have been issued by the Ministry of Health and the success of these growers will depend on selling a standard medicinal quality flower.
This emerging industry has the potential to generate exports comparable to kiwifruit ($2 billion revenue) if exporters can establish a viable value proposition. The global export market for medicinal cannabis is estimated to be worth US$44 billion by 2024.
There is currently a lack of publicly available information for growers to produce commercial quality medicinal cannabis flower for export. The New Zealand Ministry of Health quality assurance standard is one of the most stringent in the world.