New Zealand Cops Use Drones To Spot Illegal Cannabis Cultivation As MMJ Patients Struggle With High Prices

New Zealand police are training drones on a legal marijuana farm, using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify illegal cannabis crops. The goal of the training is to see if marijuana can be “detected by a specialist camera system.” AI drones are commonly used by police for various operations.

“Police primarily use Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), or drones, for crime scene and road crash photography, and quickly locating people in inaccessible places during search and rescue operations,” the spokesperson told Stuff. “All RPAS include AI features such as object recognition, object tracking, and obstacle avoidance to assist with their safe operation."

This is not the first time New Zealand cops have conducted aerial searches for illegal weed cultivation. It dropped the previous project in January 2021, because of a lack of interest from leaders of the 12 police districts. Now it is resuming the operation.

What About MMJ Patients Who Struggle To Afford Medicine?

According to Sarah Helm, executive director at the NZ Drug Foundation said the resumed practice might trouble individuals who consume marijuana for medical purposes from illegal sources, due to challenges in obtaining legal prescriptions.

“Patients are still largely having to use illicit cannabis because of the high cost and inaccessibility of medicinal cannabis through prescription ... so cannabis patients, I imagine, might feel quite scared hearing that news, scared for themselves about their ability to access essential medicine,” Helm said.

While medical marijuana can be prescribed for various conditions from chronic pain to epilepsy in New Zealand, it is not being funded by the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, better known as Pharmac. Per data from the Cannabis Clinic, the average cost for a two-month supply of medical marijuana products is between $200 to $300, which not something all medical marijuana patients can afford.

“I think that's also what drives that ‘let’s get it through non-official channels’ if I can put it that way, because at least you can get that at a more reasonable cost, but that, of course, has other issues associated with it,” said Marlborough district GP Roslan Gellatlys.

The news comes on the heels of the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority (Medsafe) reclassifying low-dose CBD products allowing registered pharmacists to supply approved low-dose CBD medicines to “patients aged 18 years and older under certain conditions,” without prescription.

See Also: Global Cannabis: Montreal's Baby Boomers & Millennials Pot Use, South Africa As New Amsterdam & More

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