‘Gandalf’ accused of promoting unlawful medicinal hashish in New Zealand | New Zealand

Police have shut down the alleged medicinal hashish operation of one among New Zealand’s most famed “inexperienced fairies”, prompting an outpouring of help from a outstanding politician and the a whole bunch of people that depend on such merchandise to ease their ache.

Police raided the agricultural Northland property of 66-year-old Paul Smith – extra broadly often known as “Gandalf” – final week, destroying vegetation and greenhouses and seizing hashish merchandise. Smith was charged with cultivating, possessing for provide and promoting hashish – which might carry an eight-year jail sentence – and was summonsed to courtroom.

Medicinal hashish has been authorized in New Zealand since 2020, however sufferers are reliant on gaining a health care provider’s prescription to entry it for therapy. So-called “inexperienced fairies” present cheaper, extra available, hidden market merchandise.

Greater than 50 protesters gathered outdoors Whangārei District Court docket on Monday the place Smith pleaded not responsible to the fees.

“This isn’t simply an assault on one man, it’s an assault on a whole bunch of sufferers who depend on … reasonably priced aid,” mentioned protest organiser Pearl Schomburg, who’s a affected person of Gandalf’s and the convener of Auckland Sufferers Group – an advocacy group pushing for hashish regulation reform.

A couple of dozen law enforcement officials arrived at Gandalf’s property final week with sledgehammers and axes to destroy roughly 40 vegetation and greenhouses, Schomburg informed the Guardian.

“They ransacked his home and took away all of his … thank-you playing cards and letters.”

Smith was “no legal mastermind” she mentioned. “He’s a compassionate, barefoot hippy with a battered truck and a coronary heart of gold.”

Individuals wishing to entry medicinal hashish don’t at all times achieve acquiring a prescription or can really feel discomfort asking their docs for one, because of the stigma surrounding hashish. For others, the as much as $400 a month price-tag places the authorized merchandise out of attain, Schomburg mentioned.

“The one folks that may entry authorized hashish presently in New Zealand are the rich – there may be not equality of entry to those merchandise,” she mentioned.

Smith thanked his supporters in a brief video shared to social media and a donations web page set as much as assist pay for his authorized charges.

“To all you pretty folks on the market, I provide you with a giant hug, a heartfelt thanks for all of your type phrases and help … I’ve by no means skilled something like this in all my life.”

Hashish is New Zealand’s mostly used illicit drug, with over half one million adults having used it between 2023 and 2024, in keeping with the NZ Well being Survey. In 2020, the nation narrowly voted in opposition to legalising hashish.

Inexperienced Occasion co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick threw her help behind the protesters, saying the raid on Smith was “a completely abysmal waste of public sources”.

The pricey “conflict on medication” had carried out little to scale back drug use or transfer dependancy statistics, she mentioned, including {that a} new strategy primarily based in hurt discount and proof was obligatory.

Swarbrick – who has lengthy advocated for the legalisation of hashish – pointed to a current Massey College research exhibiting two-thirds of New Zealand’s medicinal hashish customers nonetheless entry it by way of the hidden market, principally because of the expense of authorized hashish.

“That needs to be a very clear signal that the foundations that we’ve in place proper now will not be working, and that we should always do one thing about [them]… as an alternative of terrorising a 66-year-old man.”

In a press release to the Guardian, the police mentioned it might be inappropriate for them to touch upon Smith’s case, because the matter was earlier than the courts.