AH MATURA PAPER MILL THE TOXIC MESS (That my mate Gob the legendary ODT Photographer says) IS THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING IN SO MANY WAYS. For the last three years it has being ground zero for Tiwai toxic waste every bit capable of sending the small town sky high being explosive as the Beirut bombing but now it has the ability to send folk high in another way ,

Southern Medicinal Limited, a partnership between Natural Horticulture Limited and Dunedin-based medical cannabis company SOMA Group, has begun converting the former mill buildings into a facility for growing, testing and processing medicinal cannabis and hemp free of THC.

http://dailymedicalcannabisnews.com/former-mataura-paper-mill-becomes-medicinal-cannabis-plant/

WHO THE FUCK ARE SOMA?

Will if you know your Brave New World the dystopian epic about a world controlled by Big Pharma, commercialism and social engineering by Aldor Huxley on what the Future and Normal will you will know Soma is described thus “and if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears—that’s what soma is.


Yet in this case its pharmaceutical start up partner by former Big Phamra industry specialist who pre the balls up of what was meant to be a Cannabis referendum even though there was zero effort by the government to educate the public on what the referendum was all about or to even designate what the pass mark actually was (meaning even if it had passed 50% it would have being shot down). A referendum where never Labour or the Green highlighted these flaws or that the referendum was only for smokable hers and not material that could be used in food, medicines, fuels, construction, clothing….etc etct which remained firmly in government hands.

Oh and what happened when the ALCP went to court to complain that the official ‘Fake News’ has been seen and heard by millions of Kiwi voters, in all the Electoral Commission’s taxpayer funded promotions of the referendums?

The widely circulated EC-authorised referendum advertisements invariably promote voting in “the referendums on End Of Life Choice and cannabis.” ALCP vice president, Kevin O’Connell noting “It’s not actually a referendum on whether or not we approve of cannabis”. That the 2020 referendum subject was ‘Cannabis Legalisation and Control’. “Technically that’s a very important difference. Especially considering the Government assured us they would be on the case with weeding out misinformation in the two referendum campaigns, this is an unbelievable slip up, RIGHT FROM THE TOP.”

Well they went to court asked to pay the court filing fee for their case were told there was no fee required only to then have their case chucked out when the judge then dismissed the case due to a failure to pay the court filing fee.

Are you getting the picture now?

SOMA GROUP LIMITED Company files details follow as Company Number 6902634StatusRegisteredIncorporation Date26 June 2018 (almost 3 years ago)Company Type NZ Limited Company Jurisdiction New Zealand Registered Address Logic Accounting Limited, Flat 2, 63 Mandeville Street, Riccarton, Christchurch8011NZIndustry CodesM691030: Medical science research activities (New Zealand Business Industry Codes)Annual Return Last Made Up Date2020-07-01T13:10:04.000+1200Directors / Officers Gregory Philippe MARSHALL, director, 26 Jun 2018-Paul John CHAMBERLAIN, director, 26 Jun 2018.


Note the date as this is where things get interesting back in 2018 the National Business review noted

“Amid growing interest in commercial cannabis production, the government-owned Plant & Food Research says it is in talks with several cannabis companies to explore how its scientific expertise could contribute to market development.
Responding to claims by New Zealand cannabis start-up Soma Group of a research partnership with Plant & Food, the Crown research institute said it had no such partnership but confirmed its interest in the sector. The claims featured in a press release issued on November 1 by Canadian cannabis investor Cannex Group, which said it had paid $US750,000 for 10% of Soma. ‘Soma has recently signed an agreement with the New Zealand government’s Plant & Food Research group, a government-owned Crown research institute. Together, they will characterise and map the genetic profile of local cannabis strains for pot ential medical uses. In a separate presentation document, Soma said its partnership with Plant & Food Research allowed it to operate under the Crown entity’s prohibited substance licence and that the government had agreed to grant Soma exclusive rights to intellectual property generated from testing at Plant & Food Research. However, a spokeswoman for Plant & Food said that was not the case.

“I can confirm that the relationship with Soma is not as described in the presentation,” she said. “We have been in discussions with Soma, and other organisations in the medicinal cannabis space, to ascertain if, and how, Plant & Food Research could use its scientific expertise to best support the changing landscape in NZ. We have no active research and no plant material in this area.”

In its press release it said Soma would be led by New Zealand director Greg Marshall and chief executive Mike Healy, previously the chief financial officer of the Australian unit of Canadian pharmaceutical company Apox, the largest producer in Canada of generic drugs, who announced in 2021 they planned to leave the New Zealand market. The firm has reputation for exploiting Patented Medicines Regulations to make drugs invented by other companies or individuals.

Mr Marshall was stepping down from the Cannex board to set up Soma. In the press statement, Mr Marshall said in 2018 pre referendum Soma would have “a three-pronged approach to creating a leading cannabis business beginning with an R&D partnership with the New Zealand government to create world-class cannabis genetics for worldwide licensing. “Secondly, we’re acquiring a profitable, GMP [good manufacturing practice] certified food processing facility in Australia from Coca-Cola Amatil to manufacture nutraceutical terpene-enhanced products for Asian Pacific distribution and will use this facility for cannabis production once licensing is in place. “Lastly, we will acquire Vaporium, a New Zealand e-cigarette online and physical retailer, which will eventually form the backbone of our retail cannabis strategy.” He said Soma had no connection to Amsterdam-based cannabis seed reseller Soma Seeds.

We also recommend this article on scoop which highlights how national and Labour cannabis policy is the same neo liberal Public Private Partnership ( e.g government provides the infrastructure the corporation take the money) horse shit which we have being getting from the major political parties (and their junior partners) ever since they saw the dollar signs pot offered.