Marijuana. Cannabis. Weed. We all know this drug, and half of us have tried it. In New Zealand, we have one of the highest rates of use in the world. But now we're on the road to legal medicinal cannabis, and just round the corner in 2020 we vote on whether we get to legally use it for whatever reason we want. In this two-part documentary, I'm going to look at both medical use, and then I'll also investigate recreational use and the potential problems that come with legalising weed. In this episode, it's about cannabis as a medicine. I want to see what it's doing in people's lives. I meet the star of Spartacus, who uses it legally in LA, and Scarlett, who uses it illegally in Nelson. Her cannabis is supplied by Rose, who could go to prison for it. I'm going to see what the police have to do under the current laws and how much it could change if medical marijuana is made widely legal. Who here's been using cannabis? I want to know if it could have helped my mum at the end of her life. Maybe I need to try it for myself to find out whether medical cannabis is a good idea for New Zealand. (INTENSE MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019 Growing cannabis in New Zealand is illegal unless you're one of the few companies who have recently been granted a licence to grow for medical research. This isn't one of them. This crop is illegal, but it doesn't mean there isn't a big demand for it. My journey begins with Gandalf. You know, what's the scale of medical marijuana in New Zealand? What's the size of the underground market? It's quite large ` a lot more than people actually realise. Gandalf is one of the country's largest green fairies, growing and selling cannabis to over 1000 customers who claim some kind of illness. All right, coming up to plot number one in area number one. This is an old patch of mine that I've had` been going for over 20 years. And I'm` (SNIFFS) Oh, my word. That is a lovely smell, I must say. God, I love growing this stuff. Right, here we have plot number two. This is number three. Cannabis all around us, isn't it a lovely sight? (SNIFFS DEEPLY) Oh, I do love that. On top of all this, he has another 50 plants in his backyard. I mean, there's $50,000, $60,000 worth of cannabis in here. Mm. A few years ago, Gandalf was caught by the police. What happened? How did they find you? Chopper flew over, and then all of a sudden, six police cars turned up with 12 police, just like that, within minutes. The thing that really pissed me off was that all my hard work had come to nothing. He spent several months in prison. The police don't care whether it's medical or recreational. Cannabis is illegal, and every year, all over the country ` but mainly up north and on the East Coast ` police take to the skies to find the plots of Kiwi growers in search and destroy missions. While we're here, a spotter plane has seen a marijuana patch and the ground team is sent in. RADIO: Come round. It's under` up here. RADIO: Come in from up the top end of the road. RADIO: Are we on the money here? RADIO: Yeah, you're on the money. Make your way into that clearing, then push on through. (GRUNTS) Got it! Buds here. Oh, shitloads! Watch out for traps. Hold up! Watch out for traps, everyone. Rusty gin traps and cyanide are everywhere to help keep the possums out. It's not a pretty sight. Cyanide confirmed. Far out. (SERIOUS MUSIC) This is a small haul compared to some of the big grows they've been finding. These plants are off to be incinerated. Gandalf reckons the police are just wasting resources, both theirs and his. Why are you talking to us now, Gandalf? The time is right. Patients, actually, are living in fear ` fear of getting caught, fear of being stigmatised. There are so many people out there that are suffering that don't need to. I hear all their stories; I know what is going on behind the scenes. This is just a, um... notes that I've taken of patients. I mean, Gandalf, there's hundreds of people in here. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of people in there, and that's not all of them. Christchurch, Hamilton. I mean, they're all over the show, aren't they? Yes. To be quite honest, Paddy, I'm struggling keeping up. I mean, if the police got a hold of this book ` this is cannabis all over the country. Yes. Here's someone that's caught my eye. Yeah. You know, someone who's got cancer ` undergoing radiation, morphine, cancer in the lung. Yes. This is something I know a lot about because my mum died of lung cancer. You know, how did you help this person? Well, that person is still going. She has ups and downs, but it's changed her life to the point where she can spend more time with her children. Gandalf's biggest seller is called 'Cancer's Nightmare'. But because cannabis is illegal, it means there has been very little research to back up any health claims. As the name implies, it's mainly for people with cancer and pain. I believe this is why I was put here on Earth` was to help my fellow man, and that's what I do. And fuck the law. (HELICOPTER WHIRRS) Until there is a law change, the police still have a job to do. After the spotter plane and the ground team have been in, it's time to send in the chopper with an attachment that they call the Dalek. It sprays Roundup dyed a distinctive police blue to make sure the crop is wiped out. In a raid, Gandalf's outdoor plants were destroyed by a police recovery operation. Suddenly, he couldn't supply most of his customers. He reckons that left a lot of sick people suffering. But the laws around medical marijuana are changing. Last year, a significant new bill was debated in Parliament. This bill is about how we treat our sick. It is about what happens to all of us when we find ourselves sick. This bill is a Trojan horse. They're in palliative care. That is very, very different from just saying, 'Help yourself to a big fat doobie someday.' Surely, the point of our laws is to keep people safe and to prevent them from suffering. What, in fact, this bill is is decriminalisation of cannabis by stealth in this parliament today. The new bill passed. And for those suffering from a life-limiting illness, they can now use illegal cannabis without fear of arrest. But the bill also allows for a local medical marijuana industry in the future ` although the details are still to be worked out. Maybe Gandalf's business will be legal next year, but who knows? Pro-cannabis campaigners are trying for an image overhaul of marijuana, but there can still be a stigma to admitting that you have smoked weed. I've been open about the fact that I used to be a Mormon and then I wasn't, so I leave that to people's imaginations. For thousands of years, marijuana was used for medicine, textiles and, yes, to get high. In New Zealand, the Catholic sister Suzanne Aubert was said to have used cannabis in her famous medicine. And medicinal ciggies containing cannabis were still available in the 1900s. But in the 1920s, with heavy influence from the United States, New Zealand made cannabis a controlled drug. There wasn't really much of a black market for recreational marijuana until the '60s when it became a major part of the hippy lifestyle and grew more mainstream in the '70s. The Mr Asia syndicate smuggled in boatloads of Buddha sticks from Thailand. The Kiwi black market started growing the stuff in huge quantities, and the police had to take to the sky to curb its growth. But now around the world, cannabis is having a radical image makeover. It's normal again. The illicit drug is once again thought to have medicinal qualities. Can it help with pain relief? With epilepsy? Is medical cannabis a miracle drug? I want to know if it could have helped my mum when she got cancer. My mum, Joan, and my dad, Gordon, married in 1973. They met at a nightclub in Christchurch when Dad asked her friend to dance. She said no. He asked Mum instead. They were married within a year, and four years later I came along. So, what's this documentary about? Well, it's (STAMMERS) on weed. It's on cannabis. Grass. Yeah, grass. Yeah. When was the first time you, sort of, came across it? Oh, it would have been probably mid-60s. It was, you know, the free love days. I mean, I never really asked you, but did you use to smoke a bit yourself back in the day? Yeah, I gave it a try. (LAUGHS) I think we all did. Yeah. What about you? Did you ever try it? Oh, you know. I mean, ah... Yeah, I mean, I just don't really wanna` I'd be surprised if you didn't try it with the crowd that you hung out with. (LAUGHS) In 2006, my mum was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. It was bad ` a year of incredible pain. I hardly ever try and think back because it was just such a shit year, really. Wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. Just horrible. There's not even that many photos of Mum from that year. No. Cos... no one wanted to take any of anything. And there's Mum before she had cancer. Yeah. That's, I guess, how I remember her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how you want to remember her. That was in her early` Yeah, that's early stages. That was probably our last good family memory, really. This is` Next photo's one of the few photos I could find of her, and it's a photo from Christmas. (SNIFFLES) Yeah. Yeah. WHISPERS: You're all right, mate. Yeah, so I just wanted to thank you today for everything you did. Yeah, it was a tough fucking year. Was it the pain management? What...? You're helpless. There was nothing you could do when the real pain set in. There was just nothing. There was fuck all you could do. (SOBS) Sorry, son. You're all right. You don't have to be sorry, mate. Yeah, yeah. Would you have wanted to give her access to cannabis-related things? When you get to that stage that your mum was, anything's an option, you know, for pain relief. Yeah. Towards the end, it was` it got easier. Your mum had so much drugs in her, you know, it didn't matter. You know, she was... Yeah. She was on cloud nine and, you know, away with the fairies. Yeah. Well, thanks, Dad. All over New Zealand, cannabis is being used to illegally relieve pain, and some people think it can do much, much more. In 2020, we get to vote on whether we can use marijuana legally, so I want to find out ` is it actually a miracle drug? Families love perfect pizza. With more fresh ingredients, our DOM Pizza Checker quality guarantee, and any pizza from $15 delivered, with Domino's, everyone's happy. On the internet, I find claims that cannabis is a cure for almost anything. I've found amazing things like the stopping of seizures with cannabis, but where's the research? Does the science say cannabis is a miracle drug? That's an interesting question, and the answer is no. I don't think so. Cannabis does a bunch of different things to the body, because cannabis receptors are found all over the place. And some of the things that weed does some people find beneficial. Then for you, as an individual, it's a pretty wonderful drug, right? It's not a miracle drug or` or we don't know it's a miracle drug? Just because we don't have the research, doesn't mean it's not great at what it does. It's just that we don't have the research yet. What we do know is that the cannabis plant has over 400 compounds. The two most well known are CBD and THC. THC is psychoactive; it makes you feel high. CBD, though, is non`psychoactive, and many people think both have medical benefits. There is evidence that cannabis helps with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. And there is some evidence that it relieves chronic pain and the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. But other illnesses like epilepsy, Tourette's and Parkinson's all need more clinical studies. In New Zealand, you can legally be prescribed one THC product, called Sativex, for multiple sclerosis. Or your doctor can prescribe CBD products if they think it will help. I went to meet someone who has used it legally as medicine. Scarlett had never tried marijuana for her illness, and when she began using CBD oil, her life was changed beyond recognition. She was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia at age 14. She has been in and out of hospital, and the symptoms have been truly severe. The best way to, sort of, explain what fibro is, is it's like having the flu all the time. When I would flare, I'd be in bed for weeks. I couldn't do anything ` couldn't play with my wee boy, nothing. How does it feel for you when it's at its worst? I... pray to be gone. And it's unexplainable kind of pain that's, you know` your blood feels like it's on fire. Last year, Scarlett was prescribed CBD oil made by Canadian company Tilray. As far as I'm concerned, I'm cured. 100%. I don't have any of the symptoms I had before. I haven't spent one day in bed since I started CBD. What do you think of cannabis now? (LAUGHS) I think it's just magical. It's just amazing. I've got a life, and my little boy has a mum. And this is it here. That's what? A Tilray... THC zero. But there was a massive catch. The single bottle is expensive ` really, really expensive. That was $700. $700?! For this? 700, yep. That lasted me three weeks. Yeah. And I went, 'I can't not be on this, 'but I can't afford $700 every three weeks 'for the rest of my life. It wasn't doable for me. I don't think that's doable for` Yeah, for hardly anyone, yeah. Then I got in touch with Rose, and she just... changed my whole world. Rose Renton is a green fairy supplying cannabis medicine on the black market. For Scarlett, Rose's cannabis oil has exactly the same result as using the Tilray oil ` except it's not legal. So Rose's is double the size of Tilray. It's $100, and that lasts me about eight weeks. When I got in contact with her, it's probably, besides my son being born, the best day of my life. Hands down, the best day of my life. Hi. Hi, Scarlett. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Good, yeah. I just love her. I just feel so much happiness. Every day, I thank God for her, cos she's such an angel. And I'm one person. Yeah, how are you, Rose? I'm Paddy. (ALL LAUGH) Lovely to meet you, Paddy. It's emotional. Nice to meet you as well. Rose supplies medical cannabis to almost 1000 people. She does this while facing the possibility of serving 12 years in jail for cannabis cultivation. Rose has smoked occasionally, but her epiphany came when her 18-year-old son Alex suffered a terrible seizure in 2015. Alex Renton has been in a coma at Wellington Hospital for 60 days and has received more than 40 treatments. None have worked, and now his family is calling on the government to approve medical marijuana. They need to look at a law change around medicinal use in cannabis. Nature heals. The results are there, and they're worldwide. Rose Renton won the right to give her son Alex medicinal cannabis to treat seizures before he died. Renton is still fighting for legalisation. Until then, Rose's fridge is the closest thing New Zealand has to a medical cannabis dispensary. Jeez. (LAUGHS) Interesting. Interesting little sound, isn't it. You've got a fair bit of this stuff in here, haven't you? My canna-butter to make my brownie. Looks good. Well, it doesn't look good, but` No, it doesn't. I don't know why I said that. What are these? Suppositories. An old gin bottle holds an industrial amount of the same medicine that Scarlett uses. Oh, gotta say, I've never really seen a fridge like that before. (LAUGHS) Making the medicine is a fairly rudimentary operation. OK, let's get cooking. So, this goes straight into there. So this is like your wee bag that you put the` Roast in. Put the chicken in. Yeah, the roast chook. So, put that in there. 100 degrees. I'll put the cannabis roots in there. At the same time, Rose slow-cooks a batch of ingredients for a balm. I like, kind of, things done in labs, and... I know. Yeah, no, it's good. Ooh! There's no way I'm getting high like that? No. What we're doing now? No. Not at all. Just delightful. Yeah. Just smells like` to me, that's yummy. You've already been charged, and here you are just pumping it out in your kitchen. (BOTH LAUGH) Fuck. Rose thinks there's loads of evidence for the medical benefits of cannabis. And whether science can prove it or not, she reckons the plant could have saved her son had he got it earlier, or at the very least, eased his pain. I guess, for me, if I'd known what I know now when Alex got sick, he'd probably be here, Paddy. As we got closer towards the end, and ultimately, you know, I held my son's hand while he died. And he was my best friend, Paddy. Yes, it makes me sad. But what makes me sad is that we're still in a similar conversation, and when did we lose compassion? And for me, there's no need for anyone to suffer. Alex, through his difficult journey, brought me somewhere that I can make a difference in that pain for others. After Uruguay, Canada is just the second country to legalise all uses of cannabis. Canada is also the headquarters of Tilray, the company that made the CBD oil that first helped Scarlett. They grow pharmaceutical grade cannabis. Philippe Lucas, who's in charge of patient research, showed me around. It's a far cry from Rose Renton's Nelson kitchen. I'm a researcher ultimately. I don't believe in, really, miracles, but I think that what we're finding now with this renaissance of cannabis research is that this is a plant that is remarkably safe, and I think we're just starting to unlock its total potential. In New Zealand, Tilray's CBD extract goes for 700 bucks a bottle. The equivalent is just over $100 in Canada. Why does it cost so much in New Zealand? Well, here you see, of course, the infrastructure that goes into making a product like this, but ultimately the costing in New Zealand is not something that's in our hands. But we go out of our way to make this pharmaceutical grade, medical grade. It should be treated like every other prescription medication in New Zealand as well. You'd like to make this cheaper for Scarlett? I've been spending 20 years trying to open up access to medical cannabis for patients. The last thing that I want is someone to have to find that the cost is too prohibitive for them to use a medicine that might be able to improve their lives. And there's another group with big interests in marijuana ` investors are betting on cannabis big time. Tilray is worth an astonishing $20 billion. I'm going to meet the Kiwis who want a piece of that kind of action. In 2020, we get to decide whether marijuana becomes legal, so I've come to an isolated part of the east coast of the North Island; an area well known for growing massive amounts of illegal weed. This is Ruatoria out in front of us. Word kinda get out that a chopper's coming? Yep. A chopper in the sky normally means the police are about to raid someone's crop, but today we're looking for a place to plant legally. Oh, this looks like a great spot to plant cannabis! This is where I'd go, mate. I mean, everything is different now. We're in a helicopter looking for spots to plant the stuff rather than` Yeah, to be pulling it out. That's pretty amazing. I'm with Panapa, a director of the Hikurangi Cannabis Company ` the first company in New Zealand to get a licence to cultivate medicinal cannabis plants. That could be full of weed. Full of cannabis ` all legal. That's` That's what you want, isn't it? This is just the beginning. The Hikurangi Cannabis Company plan to grow both outdoor and indoor plants. One location they're considering is an old wool shed. Why does this work so well as a business for Ruatoria? People are just so in behind it. They want to do this. They want us to create jobs for them to work in. They want to grow the best cannabis in the world. They arguably already do. (ALL LAUGH) In Auckland, Helius also have a licence for medicinal cannabis plants. The people running the company come from the corporate world, and it really shows. Even the entrance is pretty epic. Yeah. Look at this. We fell in love with it because of the sunroof, actually, initially. Being named after the sun god and all that. Oh, Helius. Helius ` we were like... Yeah, exactly. Boom. Big shaft of light down here. That's right. Big plant growing here? Massive? It has been discussed. Yeah, a big cannabis` We thought we could get a really big` Like a palm tree. This is the warehouse, and this will be the cultivation space. Whoa. This is big. This is massive. This is huge, yeah. And this entire space is gonna be full with weed. And from that white wall over there ` three years time, we will bust through that, and it'll be this space again, over there. Rugby fields of weed. Rugby fields of weed. We're also stacking the weed, so three stacks of weed in every room. So, 6500 square meters times three and then double it. And I've lost count of the math, but that's a shitload of weed. In New Zealand, medicinal cannabis could become a billion-dollar industry. And while Helius are currently paying the rent by storing alcohol, they're ready to make a big play ` both here and internationally. Produce about $700 million worth of medical cannabis products from this place. $700 million?! Jesus. Mm. This is, kind of, the heart of the business, really ` the research and development lab. Scientists round... White lab coats. How long till you can get to make it? How long until your product is on the shelves and Kiwis can go and buy them? Well, our products really out early 2020 to mid-2020. You're` You're months away? Yeah, months away. Have you ever used this for pain relief? I haven't used cannabis medicine myself for pain relief, but part of what's got me really passionate about this industry as it's unfolded is I actually had a really terrible back injury. I had significant chronic pain for probably about seven or eight years of my life. And I had Tramadol for a long time, and it ended up giving me a stomach ulcer on two different occasions. This is exactly the sort of stuff that we want cannabis to displace. I meet Guy Haddleton. He's put $15 million into Helius, and this media-shy rich-lister agreed to talk to me because he's a man with a cause. This is not about making money. The driver is every New Zealander should have the right to a pain-free existence without being dependant on opioids. The Ministry of Health identified 600,000 to 700,000 New Zealanders who suffer from chronic pain. That's just not right. Why shouldn't we have it? It's nature. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Right on up there, boys. Good feeling, or...? Yeah, it is a very, very proud moment actually. You know, see this is actually the dawn of a new industry. You know, we're right at the cusp of something totally new for New Zealand and certainly new for us. Yeah. I guess I see the future. Shit, you've gone big. Yeah, we are going big. (SEAGULL CAWS) In Hamilton, Cannasouth are making one of New Zealand's first legal batches of cannabis oil in their lab. But for now, that's where it's staying. At the moment, we're a research company, and that's all we're allowed to do. But it's close? It could` It's close. It's coming. It could be months, and that's exciting. It is exciting. It's closer now than ever before. That's exactly right. Bit of security. Yes, very secure. Oh, yeah. Just your normal fridge in there. This cannabis oil can't be used on patients. It will remain spinning round and round in this lab. It is representative of the New Zealand medicinal cannabis industry right now ` an industry in waiting, an industry of empty buildings. They've placed their bets, and are now waiting to see what cards they'll be dealt. What rules are the government going to make? It's time for me to leave the country, because around the world, people are way ahead of us when it comes to using cannabis. In 2020, we all get to vote on whether marijuana becomes legal in New Zealand. So I've come to Venice Beach, the spiritual home of cannabis culture. California was the first state in America to legalise medicinal marijuana ` way back in 1996. And the dodgy doctors are still here. You can definitely smell a bit of weed around here. Here's the Green Doctor. Hello? Sorry, doctor. It says 'doctor is in'. Thank you, doctor. But for the rest of California, everything is all out in the open. Cannabis, love, sunshine, good energy, high vibrations. Should New Zealand embrace weed? How much you want for shitty advice? I'll give you five bucks because it's for a whole country. I need some advice. New Zealand's considering legalising cannabis. OK. Definitely do not legalise cannabis cos what that's gonna do is it's gonna open` open, you know, the avenue for other drugs ` you know, heroin, methamphetamine. You know, it'll just screw up your entire country. That's really fucking shitty advice. I smoke every fucking day. (BOTH LAUGH) But really I'm in California to meet up with actress Erin Cummings. She played Sura, the wife of Spartacus, in the 2009 series of the same name. Oh, hey. Hi. How are you? Erin. I'm Paddy. BOTH: So nice to meet you. Come on in. Welcome to Hollywood. And, whoa! Here we go. Oh, yeah. Little blast from the past ` 10-year challenge. Yeah, obviously shot in New Zealand. That's where a lot of people will know you from. Just being in New Zealand was such an incredible piece of my life. First of all, just being on the show really changed my career, changed its trajectory, got me seen worldwide. But also being able to work in New Zealand was such an incredible experience. Or are you just saying that cos we're here? (BOTH LAUGH) After settling back in LA, Erin's life took a dramatic turn. When I moved here I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is gonna be great.' You go through your trials and your tribulations as you're trying to achieve success, and then, for me, right as I was at the pinnacle of everything I'd been hoping for and dreaming of, all of a sudden I was diagnosed with cancer, and I lost a lot of hope. I lost a lot of hope. Erin decided to make use of California's legal medical marijuana. You've been fighting cancer. You've had cancer. You've fought it. You still might have to fight it again. What real, tangible difference has cannabis made to you fighting cancer? Well, I will say that I'm not one of those people that thinks that cannabis is a miracle drug that can cure cancer. I am very much a believer that chemo works. Chemo has been tested. I was prescribed opioids, and they're great, of course. But for me, cannabis has made the difference between whether or not I'm able to sleep at night. Cannabis has turned down the noise of the PTSD. It has softened the blow of the excruciating pain that I was in. All of a sudden, I would get searing pain in my arm bone to the point where it felt like my bone had been replaced with a lead pipe that had been in a fire. And it was just all over my` the back of my skull, and it would just be this searing pain that I would just, like, double over. And I remember telling my mum, just saying, 'I'm so sorry, but I can't do this. 'I will not be in this kind of pain for the next year.' I mean, I was suicidal. I would not have wanted to go through that without having access to cannabis. It was a godsend. And it's so... horrifying to me that not everyone has that as an option. It's almost` It almost seems barbaric. Hearing Erin's story on top of what Scarlett and Rose had told me back in New Zealand made me think about my mum's last few months. My mother actually died of lung cancer. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. She was in incredible pain. You know, she had to be, you know, pumped full of morphine... Morphine. ...to get to the end. Over many months, and you know, she had nightmares, and she had insomnia, and she was in pain. She was bedridden. And, you know, what I've learned is that I feel that I let her down by not learning more about cannabis and being able to provide something to her because... I just should've tried it. But it was also illegal. You didn't let your mum down. The government let your mum down. Yeah. And do you think that your mum would've wanted you to break the law? She would've taken it, yeah. I'm sure. There were` you know, I didn't know there were drops. But I didn't try and find out, and I do feel that I could have helped her. It wasn't gonna cure it, but it just would have made her life better. I just know that for sure now. I could have made days, weeks, months better for my mum. I wish I knew what to say right now, and I don't. (SIGHS) If something helps with pain relief, and cannabis does, then it should be an option. We need more research on it, but to me, well-regulated pharmaceutical medical cannabis is a no-brainer. In Los Angeles, it is as simple as visiting one of its 1700 dispensaries. The next morning, Erin took me to one. We're gonna get some drugs. Yeah, we're gonna get some drugs. So, there's a lot of dispensaries in Los Angeles now that it's legal for medicinal and recreational. Atrium is a high-end dispensary, and a very different experience from visiting the green fairies back at home. Could it be our future? I will need to see two IDs, please. OK. I've only got my New Zealand driver's licence. OK. Does that count? Yep, totally. Oh, OK. (ALL LAUGH) Atrium is pretty bloody flash. It's like an Apple store for weed. You get assigned your own bud-tender, and it's actually pretty mind-blowing. What` How does this even work? What is this? So, it would screw in. So you would take the cartridge and then screw it into the top of this, like that. And then you would inhale, and then it would draw smoke from there. Girl Scout cookies, I've had that. Girl Scout cookies?! (LAUGHING) This is a very unusual name for weed. Because the taste of it is a little bit sweeter. There's vapes, cookies, gummies, even suppositories. However you want to take your cannabis, you can. Mouth mints. Cannabis infused salted almond dark chocolate, that sounds amazing. Fruit punch. While 90% of the store is about recreational cannabis, a small medical section has the kind of CBD oil that Scarlett uses back home for just US$45. So, you're gonna get the... The suppositories for my menstrual cramps. OK, you can. Definitely the honey mustard pretzels. Perfect. And is there anything else I can help you guys with today? No, that's all. All right, I'm gonna send it right over here to my cashier's desk. That's quite a lot. Sounds like your weed coming down. (LAUGHS) There it is! This felt so normal. It was treating cannabis just like buying a packet of Panadol. Well, you'd be surprised about how they serve weed in New Zealand. Which is` you know, where it's still illegal. We have it in what's called tinnies, which is tinfoil wrapped up and sold illegally. Jesus! (ALL LAUGH) That sounds like an experience. Yeah, very different to that. And there's no slides, you know. So it's not as fun. We all get to decide whether marijuana becomes legal in 2020, but before that, the government is going to allow its use for some medical conditions. Personally, I'm convinced we should allow it for pain relief. But what about for other, more everyday problems? I'm very stressed. I get anxious. There's a lot of things impacting, Doctor. Colorado is roughly the same size and population as New Zealand. It might just show us what we could become if we legalise marijuana. I'm at the Denver Indo Expo. It's like a Fieldays for the weed industry. Medical cannabis has been legal here since 2000, and recreational was legalised in 2014. It's pretty full on. Don't be scared. (LAUGHS) You can buy everything here in Colorado. It's the American way. So, this is how you make weed chocolate. Yeah. These are the moulds. Whatever you decide to put in there, there's gonna be no smell issue. Is this for your small stash? How much are you gonna put in here? What are these? I'm from New Zealand. I mean, I've never seen anything like this. I actually sold one to New Zealand a while back. You sold` weed is still illegal down in New Zealand, you see. I sold it to somebody who was growing. There's a long line for a much-hyped weed seed. It's bred by a mysterious man known only as Cap. This is out of it? Cap ` coming from New Zealand, we've seen nothing like this. You're` You're a` I've seen nothing like this either. This is like a queue for a new iPhone or something. Tell me about it. And like all trade shows, there's free samples. Chronic Candy? It's chocolate. Is it actual chocolate? Am I gonna get high off that? No. It's just CBD. You're gonna get by and get healed off it. You're gonna love it. Trick or treat! (LAUGHS) There you go, my friend. Thank you, brother. I've been around cannabis for weeks now, and it feels like the new normal to me. And I've seen what it can do for medical patients. I want to give it a crack, but first I have to talk to my news boss, Hal Crawford. I know that I said in the beginning of this documentary that it wasn't my intention to consume any... any cannabis because I was worried about what it would do for my reputation as a journalist and broadcaster in New Zealand. The cannabis scene is evolved here in the United States, and I'm wondering if my position on` on whether I use cannabis is, um` is evolving as well. It's quite normal over here now. I mean, look at this stuff that I got today. This is candy, basically. This has no THC in it. This is purely the CBD. You can not actually get high. Just let me stop you there. What's the point of eating it, then? It's like` viewed as like vitamins. I'm not talking about smoking a joint. I am talking about consuming cannabis, um, in a medical environment potentially with a doctor. Mm. The fact that it's not against the law is a good thing. I think there'd be more of a risk to your reputation if you didn't try it, given that you're investigating the whole business. So, you're basically saying that I will have a job if I do this. (LAUGHS) OK. We'll see if we can find ourselves a good doctor. Not too much, OK? Yeah, yeah. I promise. You're a thoroughbred. OK, thanks, boss. Appreciate it, mate. See you, mate. I'd heard about a cannabis seminar at a retirement home in Boulder. The speaker was Dr Joe Cohen, a former obstetrician turned cannabis doctor. So, this is science. This is not just about getting stoned. It can be for those who want to ` there's no issue with that. For three years back in the 2000s, he delivered babies in Whanganui. I know my friends in Whanganui would love to have this available, especially if they knew how well this would work to treat certain conditions. This is the relationship between CBD and THC. It's the yin and the yang. It's the balancing. I could never have imagined I'd be sitting in a room full of senior citizens that were so into weed. I was just really hoping to get a show of hands ` who here's been using cannabis? May I ask, ma'am, how old you are? 83. And did you used to smoke weed? Never. Never smoked in my life. I was afraid of the T` The T part. THC? Yeah, about getting high because I didn't` I don't want it to change, you know, my body. And now you're gonna do it yourself? LAUGHING: I'm gonna do it myself. I gave my son a hard time about that, and now I'm gonna do it myself, but I'm not gonna tell him. (BOTH LAUGH) My boss has said it's OK if I do marijuana in a safe place with a doctor. Well, it doesn't get any safer than that. So, just to put my boss to rest ` mainstream doctor, marijuana doctor as well? Absolutely. And everything's gonna be all good for Paddy? Everything's gonna be great. (LAUGHS) With that sorted, it was off to Dr Joe Cohen's home office for my cannabis treatment. Great, yeah. I'll tell you some of my problems if you've got time. I'm very stressed. I get anxious. There's a lot of things impacting, Doctor. You know, the one thing that I'd like to redress here is... is... the potential for me using cannabis as a medicine. It can help in a variety of ways, actually. It can help with all` everything you mentioned. So, as a medical doctor, you are convinced? I'm absolutely convinced. I mean, I've delivered babies for my entire career, and that was so rewarding in so many ways, but, in a different way, this is as significant as seeing a newborn baby being born ` watching somebody heal from their disease using this medicine. And we have changed people's lives with autoimmune diseases, with cancers, with pain, with a variety of different conditions. Do you believe this is a miracle plant? I don't know if I'd use the word miracle. I've seen miraculous things happen to patients. I have some here that I have, uh, for you. Would you like to try some? Well, of course. OK. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to act so keen. This is a vaporiser by the way. Sure. With vaporising, there's no carcinogens. So, I've already ground this up, and I'm gonna go ahead and put it in the bowl. So as soon as that turns green` which it just turned green. It's all yours. OK. I just need to be very, very clear that this is a medical recommendation from you. Yes, this is a medical recommendation to help de-stress you. So, deep breath in. Yeah, just put your lips right up to it. We won't know what illnesses it will be legal to treat with cannabis until the end of this year. I reckon it has the potential to benefit many New Zealanders, especially if used for pain relief. This question may become irrelevant if we vote yes to legalising cannabis in 2020. If that's the case, we can personally choose to use cannabis to treat anything. In the next episode ` my medical experience is put under the microscope, and I'm entering the world of recreational weed. In New Zealand, it's obviously illegal and underground. In America, I'll find out what happens when you bring it out into the light. Here's your weed. Ooh. There's money to be made, that's for sure ` especially for this Kiwi millionaire. But at what cost? How will it impact our society? I need the facts because in 2020 New Zealand gets to vote whether cannabis becomes legal for everyone.