With the announcement in the Cook Islands News that a freight hike is set to drive up Cook Islands prices possibly by 30 per cent, there has never been a better time to legalise the personal cultivation of medicinal pakalolo by patients in order to treat their illnesses and save them heaps of money.

It states in the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004 that a license to grow medicinal pakalolo by a Cook Islands patient can be granted if it is issued for the purpose of research or study.

And that is exactly what we can do in the Cook Islands, allow for the cultivation of medicinal pakalolo by patients for medicinal and study purposes.

I’ve contacted PM Brown, Tina Browne and Rob Heather informing them of a plan of this very nature and have got zero response.

A referendum held on August 1, 2022 saw 62% of the voters agreeing that cannabis laws should be reviewed to allow for the research of medicinal use.

Save for the allowance of medicinal pakalolo patients obtaining a prescription from an overseas doctor that allows them to import pakalolo products, there is no other way to obtain this medicine except through personal cultivation.

The three aforementioned politicians are not respecting and are dishonouring the historical sweeping victory of the voters of this nation allowing for the medicinal and research purposes of medicinal pakalolo.

If they can’t get their act together before the next election and give the people what they want and not what they want, then it’s time to show them the door.

Steve Boggs