Cannabis company Hikurangi Cannabis Company is out to change Ruatoria's bad reputation - and offer a path forward for Māori.
It has set up a cannabis growing course at the local polytech to help get people ready for a possible future in the cannabis industry.
"I joined this course because I believe that we're not only just growing a plant itself, I think we're growing opportunities, and with that hopefully will come employment for our people and hopefully bring us out of the darkness into the light," one person says.
"I'm hoping when Hikurangi becomes established that everyone who's done this course can get a job with them so we can all share the knowledge that we know. Because all of us here know something about cannabis," another says.
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