The Auckland Cannabis Museum is re-opening today after being saved by a rich-lister donor, bringing its founder one step closer to his goal of making weed the new alcohol.
Cannabis museum reopens in Auckland today after a rich-lister donor contributed more than $500,000.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick officially opened the Green House on Friday afternoon.
Founder Abe Gray aims to make cannabis as accepted and normalised as alcohol.
A cannabis museum has reopened in Auckland today after being saved by a rich-lister donor, bringing its founder one step closer to his goal of making weed the new alcohol.
The “Green House” located inside the historic Hopetoun Alpha building was officially opened by Green Partyco-leader and Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick on Friday afternoon.
Whakamana Cannabis Museum founder Abe Gray confirmed one rich-lister has committed more than half a million dollars into the scheme, with ongoing commitment still to be finalised.
“Surprisingly, they weren’t that interested to begin with, and I just spent a long time sharing my enthusiasm with them, and finally they were convinced,” he said.
“It’s the first cannabis-centric events venue in New Zealand.
“It’s an alternative to alcohol ... we want to show that cannabis should be equally accepted and is totally normal, and, in fact, a bit classier.”
Gray said the Green House incorporates a legal medicinal cannabis dispensary, the reopened Whakamana Cannabis Museum, the Calyx Clinic specialist medicinal cannabis prescriber, and a medicinal cannabis patient’s social club, alongside future food and beverages.
Gray said the business wants to get liquor licensing for specific events, but wanted to showcase a different way to “revitalise the nighttime economy”.
“We’re going to have bands, festivals, speakers, we’ve got corporate parties wanting to book for their functions like it’s going to be the same as any bar or events venue, but all about cannabis instead of alcohol.
“I think when people think about medical cannabis, they don’t think about people socialising and enjoying themselves.”
The Whakamana Cannabis Museum is opening at the Hopetoun Alpha building in Auckland with a bong, weed prescriptions and DJ sets. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Gray hosted a fundraiser in August 2023 to raise money to rent the heritage Alpha building, hoping to make it the museum’s permanent home.
“We want to speed up the public acceptance of cannabis in New Zealand,” Gray said.
Gray was the former deputy leader of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, before joining The Opportunities Party (TOP).
“I mean, that’s been my goal for 20 years, and now we just happen to have a legal framework where we can legally sell cannabis to people and to do that, they need to be prescribed.”
The weed museum itself is not new, having existed for several years in Dunedin and then in Christchurch, but Gray said a failed fundraising attempt to create the “Te Papa of Cannabis” in 2019 led them back to the drawing board.
The museum had been in storage since the first Covid lockdowns in 2020.
Abe Gray says cannabis should be on an equal footing with alcohol. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
A spokesperson for the Medicinal Cannabis Agency said there are no restrictions in the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Regulations 2019 on where patients can use medicinal cannabis.
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 prohibits smoking and vaping in specified places, for example in workplaces, and vaping prohibitions may restrict the places where medicinal cannabis products can be inhaled via a vaporiser, the spokesperson said.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
