11 Nov 2023

Magic mushrooms with a social impact

From Māpuna, 12:15 pm on 11 November 2023
Manu Caddie from Rua Bioscience

Photo: Manu Caddie

As one of few Māori-born biotech businesses in Aotearoa, Rua Bioscience in Tairāwhiti, is the only New Zealand-based medicinal cannabis company with an explicit focus on delivering social impact.

Last month, The Ministry of Health granted Rua Bioscience a cultivation licence for research into an indigenous magic mushroom that is hoped to be able to help those suffering from methamphetamine addiction - a first of it's kind in New Zealand.

Rua Bioscience co-founder, Manu Caddie, has spent the last 25 years working in community development and biotechnology. His true passion is facilitating sustainable use of whenua, so whānau can continue to live and work on their ancestral land. Manu spoke to Julian Wilcox.