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Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he will stand aside from any applications for help from the provincial growth fund to grow medical marijuana.
Floods that swept through Tolaga Bay last week raised questions about whether production forestry is the most appropriate land use, and whether medical marijuana is a viable alternative.
Mr Jones says the Government is considering changes, and once the law is changed investors would be entitled to grow certain strains of the plant.
"And if the landowners and the people of Tairawhiti want to get into growing it, I personally think it's the wrong step to take but I can't allow my personal well-known biases in terms of drugs to fetter their ability to bring a kaupapa forward after the legislation is passed, and really that would be up to the other ministers. I will stand aside from it," he says.
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