Cannabis head worth an estimated $420,000 from two of 80 healthy and flourishing plants was found on the property of a former public health promoter and Green Party politician.
Aaryn Barlow, from the hop-growing capital of New Zealand in a valley south of Nelson, was sentenced to community detention on Friday on a list of drugs charges, some serious and involving Class A material.
The 43-year-old former project manager at Te Whatu Ora – Nelson Marlborough has spent two decades working in the sustainability and public health sectors.
He touts himself online as a health promoter, marketing consultant, politico, husband, dad and off-gridder.
Barlow contested the Nelson seat for the Green Party in the 2011 election. Three years later he announced he was standing again, but only for the party vote.
He rose to 14th on the party list before quitting politics.
In sentencing him in the Nelson District Court, Judge Bill Hastings acknowledged Barlow’s views and beliefs on cannabis for medicinal use, and his own pleadings from the dock for a community-based sentence, but they were serious charges.
“It’s a tough one,” Judge Hastings said.
Police prosecution said Barlow’s operation had a degree of sophistication and commerciality about it.
While his intention might have been to provide cannabis to the less fortunate for medicinal reasons, it was still illegal, police said.
Barlow had earlier admitted charges of cultivating cannabis, possession of the class A drug psilocybin (magic mushrooms), possession of cannabis for supply in a class B form (tincture), producing cannabis in a class B form, possession of cannabis for supply and importing cannabis seed.
His plantation at his property in Tapawera was found by police during an aerial reconnaissance flight of a large part of the Nelson Bays area in March this year.
According to the police summary of facts, about 100 “very large” cannabis plants reaching above 2m were seen from the air, growing on three separate areas of the property.
Police later counted 80.
All were fully matured, well-maintained and “extremely well covered in flowering cannabis head”, police said.
A shipping container was set up as a drying room with dehumidifiers, fans and a dozen pairs of pruning shears for tending to the harvested cannabis destined for sale, police said.
A police drug expert selected two plants that were dried, processed and manicured as if for sale.
More than a kilo of cannabis head was obtained from the two plants.
Police said the yield was valued at $420,000 if sold at the average price for a pound of good-quality cannabis head. However, this was disputed at sentencing.
Defence lawyer Dave Holloway said the amount reflected a retail value and was not what Barlow might have received as a wholesaler of medical cannabis.
He said half did not contain THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) – one of two main cannabinoids found in cannabis.
Small quantities of dried cannabis head and cannabis utensils were found in Barlow’s bedroom.
An ice cream container in the wardrobe contained 9.4g of dried psilocybin.
Police also found a courier package containing 10 foil zip-lock bags of commercially prepared cannabis seeds of various strains produced in the US.
Drug paraphernalia, including digital scales and a vacuum sealer unit, were also found, plus a bag containing 13 eyedropper bottles full of what Barlow described as a “tincture”.
Police said the “green coloured oily liquid” had a strong alcohol smell.
Research by police described 0.5ml as a standard dose, indicating the amount found was sufficient for 780 doses.
Barlow said he had made the tincture using cannabis head steeped in food-grade alcohol for personal use.
Police said communications across various devices identified clear evidence of the sale of cannabis and the cannabis oil tincture.
Two large bags of cannabis found by police were packaged to go to “The Green Fairy” – people who provided medicinal cannabis, bypassing the current legal system, in which medicinal cannabis could be obtained on prescription.
Barlow said he supplied cannabis to the Green Fairy system as and when required, but did not say how much he got paid.
THC and CBD (cannabidiol) were the two main cannabinoids found in cannabis. Medicinal cannabis could be formulated to contain different ratios of each, the Ministry of Health said.
Barlow said he grew several different strains of cannabis, including some with a lower THC level, and that 46 of the plants found were grown for THC content.
The remainder had a mix of CBG (cannabigerol), present in many cannabis strains at low levels, and CBD content.
Police said the strains he named corresponded with seeds imported from the US.
Emails found in Barlow’s cellphone and laptop showed he had arranged the purchase and importation of the cannabis seeds from Oregon-based company GTR, which he had visited several years earlier.
Barlow apologised in court for not respecting due process. He said he should have had a licence to grow the cannabis legally.
“That was a mistake. I don’t want to be in this situation again,” he said, before pleading for a lighter sentence.
Police said medical cannabis production was highly regulated to ensure public safety.
Judge Hastings told Barlow the judiciary and Parliament considered it as serious offending.
“I hear what you are saying and I appreciate you don’t consider yourself as criminally-minded but what you have done is plead guilty to serious offending.”
From an adjusted starting point of two years in prison, Barlow was given discounts for his guilty pleas and the effects of a conviction on his life, to arrive at a prison term of 15 months and two weeks.
This was converted to six months of community detention with a nightly curfew.
An order was made for the destruction of the drugs and associated paraphernalia.
Barlow told NZME he was not trying to minimise the harm cannabis caused in the community, but he believed a double standard existed.
He said a “two-tiered system” meant it was easy for those with the means to purchase cannabis products with a doctor’s prescription, while others ended up facing criminal charges.
New Zealanders narrowly voted against supporting the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill during a referendum in 2020.
The NZ Drug Foundation said cannabis was the most commonly used illicit drug in New Zealand.
A report this year on drug consumption, prevalence of use, price and availability showed illicit drug use continued to steadily increase across the board.
The foundation warned investment in harm reduction, early intervention and support had not kept pace with consumption and use.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.