as new zealand prepares to legalize medicinal cannabis a small town is trying to turn around its fortunes creditcornell tukiri for the new york timesnov 18 2018ruatoria new zealand as new zealand prepares to legalize the production of medicinal cannabis companies are racing to secure the first and biggest slices of a market that has proved lucrative in the united states and canadaone of those companies is also racing to save the town of ruatoria population 750 and fallingyouve got whole entire families leaving because theres no work and its a struggle to live said donette kupenga owner of ruatorias only cafe hati nati employment would make a huge differenceand so ms kupenga like hundreds of other residents of ruatoria and nearby towns became a shareholder in hikurangi cannabis a startup founded by two local men manu caddie and panapa ehau they say they want to bring more than 100 jobs to the area in the next two yearsbesides benefiting the town and themselves the founders have another goal ensuring that maori the indigenous people of new zealand who make up 95 percent of ruatorias population share in the economic gains from the medicinal cannabis industryimagecreditcornell tukiri for the new york timesour indigenous people here are the masters of growing marijuana said robin thomson 54 a grower for hikurangi referring to flourishing illegal operations in the arearuatoria on the east coast of new zealands north island is two hours drive from the nearest city gisborne on a highway battered by the logging trucks that provide much of the areas employmentphone reception is patchy the last retail bank closed in 2015 and the gas station is shuttered jobs outside of farming and forestry are increasingly hard to find unemployment is about 15 percent and the median annual wage is 17000 new zealand dollars or 11500 which is below the national poverty linei dont think the number of locals can sustain our township said ms kupenga the owner of hati nati the really tough months for the cafe she says are april to novemberso when mr caddie and mr ehau began holding public meetings this year to solicit investment their message offering jobs and a chance to reverse the towns fortunes found an eager audience they sold more than a million dollars in shares to area residents often in 50dollar bundles the minimum purchaseimagecreditcornell tukiri for the new york timesthey all say they want to move home if theres a decent job said mr caddie 45 referring to people who have left ruatoria so were creating some decent jobs and well see how relevant peoples talk ismany people in ruatoria say they have stayed because of deep connections to the land and their community most speak the maori language and many serve at their local marae a communal meeting place the unspoiled scenery is ancestral maori land much of it now owned by family collectivesmr caddie a former district councilor and youth worker has led community development projects before but this is