Cannabis ‘a $300M industry in N.Z.’

Press, 4 December 1985, Page 1

Cannabis ‘a $300M industry in N.Z.’

PA Wellington Cannabis production and supply is a $3OO million industry in New Zealand, according to an Opposition member of Parliament. The Opposition spokesman on the misuse of drugs, Mr Graeme Lee, said research he had done put the value of cannabis in New Zealand in 1984 at $302 million; ■ * , ; The figure was made up of: ? • 118,000 plants confls-,-, cated by the police, with a street value of $2O million. • Plants not confiscated by the police with an estimated street value of $lBO million. ® 14,329 kg of cannabis resin worth $lOl million. • 487 kg of dried cannabis leaf worth $2 million. Mr Lee, the member for Hauraki, said he talked- with a number of people who were former cultivators of cannabis about the number of plants not confiscated by the police each year. Their estimates ranged from 30 per cent to 45 per cent of the total. The figure of $lBO million was based on a figure of 40 per cent. The figures for resin and dried leaf could be considered conservative, said Mr Lee. The figure of $302 million, while an estimate, was more than twice the value of kiwifruit exports for 1984 ($126 million) and more than the total cheese exports for that year ($236 million), he said.