page_title: Whakamana Cannabis Museum
hierarchical_section_title: Whakamana Cannabis Museum
caption_attribution_description: English: Shand's Emporium, Christchurch, New Zealand
context_page_description: Whakamana, or The New Zealand Institute for Cannabis Education, Research and Development is New Zealand's first museum dedicated to the history of cannabis use and culture. It was first opened in October 2013 in Dunedin as part of a project spearheaded by Abe Gray, former deputy leader of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, and Julian Crawford, former ALCP regional spokesperson. In 2019 Whakamana relocated to Shand's Emporium in Christchurch as a new project directed by Abe Gray and Cookie Time founder Michael Mayell. Following revenue issues and a failure to find suitable investors, the Christchurch location was closed. As of April 2020, Gray is attempting to establish a new site in central Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. As a political hub which houses New Zealand's parliamentary buildings, Gray considers the location to be more effective in the lead-up to the referendum.
  Whakamana was designed to be a national information centre on aspects of the science, history, and legislation surrounding cannabis, with an aim to educate, particularly in the lead up to the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum. It operates within New Zealand's laws and does not sell cannabis.
context_section_description: Whakamana, or The New Zealand Institute for Cannabis Education, Research and Development is New Zealand's first museum dedicated to the history of cannabis use and culture. It was first opened in October 2013 in Dunedin as part of a project spearheaded by Abe Gray, former deputy leader of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP), and Julian Crawford, former ALCP regional spokesperson. In 2019 Whakamana relocated to Shand's Emporium in Christchurch as a new project directed by Abe Gray and Cookie Time founder Michael Mayell. Following revenue issues and a failure to find suitable investors, the Christchurch location was closed. As of April 2020, Gray is attempting to establish a new site in central Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. As a political hub which houses New Zealand's parliamentary buildings, Gray considers the location to be more effective in the lead-up to the referendum.
  Whakamana was designed to be a national information centre on aspects of the science, history, and legislation surrounding cannabis, with an aim to educate, particularly in the lead up to the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum. It operates within New Zealand's laws and does not sell cannabis. However, Whakamana previous stated they would setup a dispensary provided the law allows it to following the referendum.
  Under the direction of the 2019 project, Whakamana sought to establish itself as a social club, an authority for cannabis education and events (i.e. lectures by figures in the cannabis industry), and an alcohol-free music venue and eatery producing hemp-based foods. In late 2019, the museum attempted to raise funds via PledgeMe, a crowdfunding platform for New Zealand-based businesses, to help complete restoration of their new site. The campaign failed to raise its minimum target of $1 million NZD, therefore investors were refunded and the campaign was voided.
caption: The former Christchurch location, closed in April 2020.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 6D", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 8.1 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2019:11:13 15:39:22", "Image Artist": "Michal Klajban", "Image ExifOffset": "242", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "894", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "25474", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:08:09 09:30:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:08:09 09:30:08", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "995723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6918863/1000000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "48", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "48", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1520", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1520", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "252154000131", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 70, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "7025001620"}