Pubdate: Friday, 3 April 1998 Source: The National Business Review (NZ) Author: Deborah Hill Contact: KIWI GREEN BECOMES BIG BUSINESS Pot, weed, dope, cannabis, marijuana - call it what you like, the country’s cannabis crop is up there with kiwifruit, wool and forestry as a major New Zealand commodity. Legitimate cannabis cultivation for industrial hemp is estimated to yield up to $800 per acre whereas cannabis grown for sale as a recreational drug is about as lucrative as it gets – provided you don’t get caught. "It’s not a boutique industry anymore, it’s a mainstream crop," one drug world source said. In economic terms, marijuana has become a currency of its own. "A bag of cannabis may leave, say, the Coromandel and goes through a series of transactions before it arrives in a joint between someone’s fingers. Each one of the those transactions is untaxable and untraceable," a drug world source explained. In Northland marijuana is considered the biggest cash earner in the regional economy, with locals citing two operators who grossed $5 million in one season from plants grown in the Puketoto Hills as an example of the money to be made. Drug reform campaigners say prohibition is leading to a "drug and dole" economy. They warn New Zealand is following the US down the road to gang warfare, and a blood-soaked drug underworld. A high-powered group of physicians and professionals agree prohibition has failed and this week their independent Drug Policy Forum put the issue firmly back on the political and business agenda. A report from the trust, released this week, recommends a body be set up to develop and enforce regulations for the production, distribution, sale and use of cannabis. "New Zealand politicians and public should accept that cannabis has become part of our culture. Whatever harms are associated with cannabis are magnified by driving its use underground," the trust concludes. The trust, which includes Auckland Medical School medicine department head Norman Sharpe and other respected health and legal figures, concludes the health effects of cannabis are no worse than alcohol and tobacco. It suggests a tobacco, alcohol and cannabis authority should be set up to regulate the three substances, including setting age and point-of-sale restrictions. The trust’s suggested regime would allow the government to reap millions of dollars of tax revenue. Inland Revenue figures for the year to June 30, 1997 show $35 million in tax was assessed from people involved in illegal activities. In the late 1980s the annual value of the national cannabis crop was estimated at $300 million, twice the value of kiwifruit exports or all the cheese export trade. More recent figures are hard to come by as the government appears reluctant to conduct research – some say they don’t want more proof showing prohibition doesn’t work. Australian research found its cannabis industry was worth $18 billion and on that basis New Zealand’s industry would be worth about $3 billion. In "New Zealand Green" Redmer Yska wrote that a nationwide wholesale and retail marijuana network had developed linking the regions, and syndicates bought between the regions to manipulate higher prices and bigger margins. "[In the 1980’s] drug barons squared off against the ‘side roaders’ in a shadowy and ruthless turf war that has fed off faltering regional farm economies and spiralling unemployment," Mr Yska wrote. The homegrown industry became more sophisticated with new strains of seeds and cultivation techniques which more than doubled the average potency of marijuana. Most New Zealand cannabis seeds originated from the "buddha sticks" imported in bulk from Thailand by Marty Johnstone and his Mr Asia syndicate in the late 1970s. The violence surround the Mr Asia crime ring served to demonise cannabis in middle New Zealand, who classified it as the same as the narcotics which the ring also trafficked. In the late 1990s drug reform campaigners want to separate "soft" and "hard" drugs, pointing to the Netherlands’ experience where an attempt was made to keep the two separate. A report by Netherlands Trimbos Institute says the more cannabis users become integrated into a drug subculture where, apart from cannabis, hard drugs can also be obtained, the greater the chance they will switch to hard drugs. "Separation of the drug markets is therefore essential," the report said. New Zealand already has its own version of the crack house in the "tinny house" – a gang-run dope shop operated on a strict business scheme marketing to school students which minimises risk while maximising revenue. It works like this: the gang rents a house near a high school which because it is not owned, cannot be taken off them under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The "shop" is staffed by young people of only 13-14 years who, due to their age, cannot be arrested. As less than an ounce of marijuana is kept on the premises the risk of serious charges is reduced. A motorcycle courier keeps the "shop" stocked, delivering packages of drugs hourly, and the drugs, often pre-rolled into joints, are sold at highly inflated prices of up to $20 for two joints. The tinny shops get their name from the tin foil in which the marijuana is wrapped. The infamous "hole in the wall" drug house in Yates Rd, Mangere, which was raided in 1988, is believed to have generated many millions of dollars in tax-free revenue for its gang masterminds. The police estimated the Yates Rd house had turnover of $9 million but a drug source said, as it was running 24 hours a day for several years, this would be a conservative assessment. "You’re talking tens of millions of dollars, You have to have your own accountants to launder the money so you can’t get it taken off you," he said.