Earlier this week, police in Northland raided an illegal growing operation that supplied hundreds of people with black-market medicinal cannabis.
The man behind the operation is 66-year-old Paul "Gandalf" Smith, a well-known 'green fairy' in the region.
Green fairy is a term used to describe those who provide medicinal cannabis outside the legal system.
While medicinal cannabis has been legal in New Zealand since 2020, only doctors can prescribe it-often making legal access difficult for many patients.
Dr. Waseem Alzaher is the chief executive of Cannabis Clinic, a medicinal cannabis business in Auckland, and believes green fairies still have a role to play in the legal medicinal cannabis industry.
He joins Emile Donovan.
Southern Medicinal cannabis crops Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
