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Speaker 1: In a week where we have once again celebrated dairy

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Speaker 1: and tourism as income earners. How about medicinal cannabis? Is

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Speaker 1: it the new export stream forest? We exported more than

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Speaker 1: a ton of cannabis flower in twenty twenty four, which

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Speaker 1: was up from forty nine kgs in twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 1: so you can see the growth path there. Government's now

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Speaker 1: exploring ways to cut red tape. David Seymour is the

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Speaker 1: Minister of Regulation and also the Associate Minister of Health

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Speaker 1: and is with us. Good morning, good morning, way this

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Speaker 1: sector of this product in terms of regulation, is it

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Speaker 1: any different to meat or kiwi fruit?

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Speaker 2: It is because cannabis remains an illegal drug in New Zealand,

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Speaker 2: so you can't just grow it. Anyone can grow a

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Speaker 2: kiwi fruit tree, it's still illegal to do that with marijuana.

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Speaker 2: That's meant that Medsafe has had to regulate every batch,

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Speaker 2: impose quite bureaucratic laws that don't exist overseas. We last

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Speaker 2: year or the year before, we said, look, if it

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Speaker 2: meets the standards of the country you're exporting to, then

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Speaker 2: you can do it, but you still need a license.

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Speaker 2: The licensing has been quite complicated. We're basically half the

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Speaker 2: time it takes to get a license. But we want

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Speaker 2: to further simplify that because regardless of what people may

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Speaker 2: think of this product, there's a market for it, and

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Speaker 2: it's a couple hundred million dollars estimated that brings money

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Speaker 2: into the country. It's good jobs for people, and if

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Speaker 2: we want to catch other countries economically, this could help

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Speaker 2: them two ways. It speeds us up and slows them down.

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Speaker 1: What's the bigger problem the exporting license red tape issue

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Speaker 1: or the stigma around the product or to the export markets.

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Speaker 1: There is no stigma. They want it, they buy it.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's becoming normalized. I realize there'll be people listening saying,

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Speaker 2: why is this guy promoting marijuana? But you know, the

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Speaker 2: fact is that there's a market out there. There's a

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Speaker 2: community that's these medicinal marijuana as a legitimate way to

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Speaker 2: treat their ailments, and good on them, and if we

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Speaker 2: can make a lot of money out of it, then

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Speaker 2: let's go for it. Let's not have any needless red tape.

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Speaker 2: In fact, let's cut the red tape so people can

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Speaker 2: get more of the green.

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Speaker 1: Is there any sophistication around I just know people who

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Speaker 1: got into the industry and they went bust. It had

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Speaker 1: a crypto vibe about it because everyone jumped on, is

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Speaker 1: there any sophistication around the industry. Yeah, there is.

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Speaker 2: I mean I've visited some of these places where they're

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Speaker 2: growing it and it's seriously sophisticated stuff. For the amount

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Speaker 2: of investment, the secure facilities, the labs. You know, these

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Speaker 2: aren't cowboys. These are people that have sunk serious capital

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Speaker 2: into their businesses so that they can grow legally and

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Speaker 2: securely and efficiently and at a very high quality. I

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Speaker 2: mean I compared it to the wine industry, and some

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Speaker 2: people may scoff at that, but basically you're producing a

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Speaker 2: very high end product for people to use that they

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Speaker 2: see as being, you know, having a therapeutic or important

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Speaker 2: value for them to consume. And New Zealand has a

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Speaker 2: brand that we can produce really good, pure natural stuff.

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Speaker 1: That answers my next question sort of the New Zealand Inc.

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Speaker 1: Aspect of that. So is it like wine and there

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Speaker 1: is a brand around it that if you're going to

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Speaker 1: buy this stuff, New Zealand does it better than others.

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Speaker 1: So it's quality story, not a quantity story.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's what the people in the industry

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Speaker 2: would like. I mean that the quantity is going up massively.

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Speaker 2: You know, four years ago it was fifty kilograms. Last year,

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Speaker 2: New Zealand business has literally exported a ton of medical

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Speaker 2: marijuana over one thousand kilograms. So it's multiplied by twenty

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Speaker 2: in just a few years, partly since we've relaxed the

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Speaker 2: regulations around it. And I ultimately, you know, how they market,

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Speaker 2: it's up to the commercial enterprises. My job is to

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Speaker 2: make sure that there's no red tape making it harder

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Speaker 2: than it needs to be.

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Speaker 1: Okay, do you know about the Courier poll coming today?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Look, I hear all the gossip going around Wellington.

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Speaker 2: But all I know is we've still got a job

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Speaker 2: to do and might as well do it well and

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Speaker 2: we'll be rewarded if we do, and we won't if

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Speaker 2: we don't.

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Speaker 1: And having said that, I'm told that Luxton's considering his position.

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Speaker 1: Is it that serious or is this just some some

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Speaker 1: shit stirring from some people who want to cause trouble.

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Speaker 2: Well, one thing I say for Luxton is, you know

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Speaker 2: he's pulled together a coalition that a lot of people

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Speaker 2: said was impossible. I think we all deserve a bit

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Speaker 2: of credit for that, and that includes him. He's led

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Speaker 2: New Zealand through some really tough times, a massive clean

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Speaker 2: up job, and then people just want to beat on

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Speaker 2: the guy and wanted to say for all of us,

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Speaker 2: I mean to forget Chris for a moment. We all

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Speaker 2: need to stop beating on people. I look at this

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Speaker 2: coverage that he's had in the last few days. You

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Speaker 2: know what's more important? Is it how do we turn

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Speaker 2: the economy around? Or did some guy misspeak at one

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Speaker 2: point during the week. I mean, I just think the

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Speaker 2: whole thing is dragging us down as a country.

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Speaker 1: Couldn't agree with you more. Is he a handbreak on

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Speaker 1: the coalition? Though?

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Speaker 2: Well, the coalition functions in part because Chris has been

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Speaker 2: a good manager and I think, actually, you know, I

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Speaker 2: got positive things to say about him. Do we disagree

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Speaker 2: on policies, of course, That's why I'm in the Act Party.

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Speaker 2: We always want to go faster on smaller government and

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Speaker 2: so on. But you know, basically, the fact that we're

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Speaker 2: all still here working together, I think is a tribute

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Speaker 2: to the guy, and people should probably look at some

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Speaker 2: of the bigger trends are going on in New Zealand,

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Speaker 2: rather than trying to beat them up about you know,

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Speaker 2: some some minor word that he said or didn't say.

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Speaker 1: Nice talk to you, well, said David. See more with us.

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Speaker 1: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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