Marijuana Media – Why NZ Police prioritise weed grows over burglaries; Euro hippies close cannabis market; India celebrates Holi with ganja & more

We cover cannabis culture around the world, why our Police prioritise busting grows over burglaries or thefts, and what’s happening with medicinal cannabis here? All this and more on 95bFM’s Marijuana Media with Chris Fowlie from NORML and Milly from bFM Drive – thanks to The Hempstore!

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Christiania middle class hippies tear up ‘Pusher Street’ open-air marijuana market

A sad moment for freewheeling cannabis enthusiasts as Christiania residents, now middle-class former hippies who squatted an abandoned military base in the centre of Copenhagen, physically ripped up the cobblestones in their so-called ‘Pusher Street’.

The open-air ‘Farmer’s Market’ for marijuana and hashish had existed in Christiania’s main street since the commune was formed in 1973. It is now Denmark’s number one tourist attraction.

I was there in 2002 and enjoyed the ambiance. Arriving in the early morning, I watched market sellers set up, piling bricks of hash like blocks of cheese, with barrels spilling out kilos of manicured buds like any other fresh produce.

The pushers were especially adept at chopping your requested among without the aid of scales (possibly to avoid law enforcement). Ask for 2.5 grams and that’s exactly what you got – chopped off a huge kilo brick with pliers.

Christiania also had an array of food outlets run by the residents, artist studios, and a very green way of living. It was nice.

But in recent years organised criminal syndicates had tried to take over and had pushed locals out of Pusher Street (an unfortunate name in English, but a reflection of their pragmatic, to-the-point, attitude). There was a shooting.

Now, as the Associated Press reported, Christiania, Copenhagen’s hippie oasis, wants to rebuild without its illegal hashish market:

The now-aging hippies who took over a derelict naval base in Copenhagen more than 50 years ago and turned it into a freewheeling community known as Christiania want to boot out criminals who control the community’s lucrative market for hashish by ripping up the cobblestoned street where it openly changes hands.

“We don’t want the gangsters anymore,” said Hulda Mader, who has lived in Christiania for 40 years. Once the illegal trade is gone, “there might be some people selling hashish afterward, but it’s not going to be in the open.”

For more coverage see DW: Locals rip up Christiania’s famous Pusher Street; BBC: A Copenhagen hippy commune fights back against drug gangs; and CNN: Denmark shuts down cannabis ‘Pusher Street’ in hippie enclave Christiania following deadly shootings.

Oregon reboots drug war

Politicians have repealed a law which decriminalised all drugs. The Daily Beast said “Drug decriminalization is being unfairly used as a scapegoat for politicians’ failures.” Enough said, and let’s move on.

India celebrates Holi with bhang & hashish

Here in New Zealand we know the Hindu festival of Holi as a festival of colours, especially throwing coloured powder over each other. But this is a somewhat sanitised version. As AP/Yahoo News noted:

“Food and drink are a big part of the festivities. Vendors in parts of India sold Thandai — a traditional beverage prepared with milk, dry fruits and can sometimes be laced with cannabis.

Another tradition that marks Holi is Bhang, a paste made by grinding the leaves of the cannabis plant and is used in drinks and snacks. It is connected to Hinduism, particularly to Lord Shiva, and is eaten during some religious festivals in the region. The paste’s sale and consumption are permissible under Indian law, although a few states have banned it.”

In fact, cannabis grows wild all over India (Cannabis Indica means ‘cannabis from India’). Wild cannabis occupies the ecological niches befitting a plant called ‘weed’, for example along roadsides and under bridges. I’ve seen cannabis growing pretty much everywhere in India – without any controversy or attempt to eradicate it – and purchased Bhang Lassis from government-licensed bhang shops.

Sadhus, the holy men of India, are free to consume bhang and hashish in their chillums. Cannabis is said to bring devotees closer to Shiva, which is not just a fun thing to do, but a religious duty. But what if you don’t want to smoke hash every day, morning noon and night? Well, the Sadhus can smoke your hash for you, so you don’t have to. How civilised!

More on the Cowboy Paradise ‘cannabis bunker’

The Herald promised to take readers inside the bunker (‘The lost city of the Wild West’ and the underground cannabis bunker), as did The Press (Cyclists and the cannabis bunker; Cowboy Paradise still open for business) and the Otago Daily Times (Cowboy Paradise still operating despite trialv). These stories are all paywalled, because people will pay money to see cannabis grows. Paying for coverage of canna-busts could help save our local media.

The Whanganui Chronicle also had ‘Operation Emerald: 75-year-old arrested after 250 cannabis plants seized near Whanganui River’ Notably, “The land had previously been the subject of an application to grow hemp.” Police said the licence expired in 2021. But in their rush to put out a press release and congratulate themselves, did Police consider if this huge-sounding grow was just unlicensed hemp? (This story also made it to HighTimes.com)

Why police prioritise canna-grows over burglaries

A story on RNZ/Herald revealed why (Police abandoned 60 per cent of reported cases in 2023). When crimes are reported, police use a computer to determine if a human should pay any attention. If “Computer Says No”, they do nothing. The computer scores a reported crime highly if it has a known offender and address, and very low if the offender’s identity is not known.

That’s why your report of that burglary at your place went nowhere, unless the offender left their name and address behind. Meanwhile if your neighbour calls the cops saying “drugs next door” they will turn up. The computer has a name or at the least an address, so it sends the humans round to investigate.

This is obviously wrong and is wasting enormous amounts of police time on what should be low priority crimes which have been wrongly elevated by a computer program. The formula needs changing. This government says they are evidence-based and wise managers of taxpayer’s money, so this should be a priority.

Cannasouth update

BusinessDesk [paywalled] reports CEO Mark Lucas has resigned, ahead of a creditors meeting (See also – Waikato Times). I really feel for him, and all the staff. Meanwhile at Farmer’s Weekly, there are ‘High hopes for cannabis company survival’. Greg Mission, co-founder of Equalis which had merged with Cannasouth last year, said “The company is down but definitely not out.”

“I am confident that at this juncture the administrators are doing a very good job of creating a more agile and leaner operation,” Misson said.

“We remain very excited for the products that have already been developed, and to be able to get them to people who need them affordably.”

Meanwhile, the Medicinal Cannabis Agency approved two more products approved last week. ANTG Rocky Oil contains 30mg THC per ml, while ANTG Luna Oil contains 10mg THC and 10mg CBD per ml.

In total, 18 oils and 19 types of bud/flower have been approved so far. Find out how you can access medicinal cannabis here.

However, at least five types of flower are not currently available, including Kikuya Peak, the NZ-grown 25.5% THC flower approved last year. I understand the following two crops have failed to meet NZ’s super-strict Minimum Quality Standard for cannabis products.

Industry contacts tell me Puro, the Marlborough based outdoor grower of high-CBD cannabis, is also experiencing difficulties, and has cut back production and laid off workers.

There is some good news. I understand the Minister of Health, Shane Reti, has signed off on the proposed changes to the medicinal cannabis regulations. These were first due to take effect in 2022, then delayed to 2023, then “Q1” of 2024. There was a risk they would not happen at all.

The changes will make imports of more products easier, will better facilitate exports of crops, and make testing requirements more pragmatic. If they had happened earlier, these changes may have saved Cannasouth and others (like my own med-can startup, Zeacann, which is now in hibernation).

Hopefully they will happen – you never know until it’s published in the Gazette – and hopefully they will reinvigorate our local outfits, so prices come down and patients are better served. I might even start growing again.

Events

Whakamana medicinal social club, 6-10pm every Thursday at the Blue Frog (Wynyard Quarter)
420 Day is Sat 20th April

·       Auckland J Day is now the first Saturday in December

Marijuana Media airs every Thursday at 4:20pm on 95bFM, with bFM Drive’s Milly and Chris Fowlie from The Hempstore. Stream or download hundreds of Marijuana Media pot-casts at 95bFM.com (or via iTunes / RSS feed). Thanks to The Hemp Store!