NZMCC board member Afraz Adam is focused on building reliability, tightening prescribing frameworks, and supporting clinicians on the ground.
What drew you to the medical cannabis sector?
For me, it started with patients who weren’t getting where they needed to be — despite doing everything right. You see it all the time in practice. People who have worked their way through standard treatments, often over years, and are still left managing pain, poor sleep, or ongoing anxiety in a way that never quite resolves. Not because they haven’t tried, but because the system doesn’t always offer a clean solution.
Medicinal cannabis wasn’t new — but it was being used inconsistently, sometimes well, often not. That gap stood out. Not just the therapeutic potential, but the lack of structure around how it was being applied. That’s what drew me in. Not to “push” a product — but to help bring some discipline, clarity, and clinical accountability into a space that patients were already navigating on their own.
NZMCC talk about complementary strengths. What is your strong suit? Where will you be leaning on the others?
I work where this all actually lands — in the clinic, with patients, and with teams trying to make this work day to day. So my lens is very practical. What happens when a product changes? When supply isn’t consistent. When guidance is unclear. When a patient loses confidence. These are not theoretical issues — they’re real, and they show up quickly.
I naturally focus on building systems that hold up under pressure — prescribing frameworks, workflows, and approaches that make sense not just on paper, but in a busy clinic with real patients.
At the same time, I’m very aware that clinical practice is just one part of a bigger system. Cultivation, manufacturing, regulation — those layers matter. I lean on others in the group for that depth. But if those layers don’t connect back to clinical reality, things start to fall apart pretty quickly.
We might disagree on how to deliver some aspects of the sector, but what do you see as the “North Star?” What vision and values do the Board share?
It comes down to trust — and earning it properly. Patients need to trust what they’re being prescribed. Clinicians need to feel confident in what they’re doing. And the wider healthcare system needs to see this as credible, not questionable. That only happens when things are consistent, transparent, and clinically sound — not just commercially viable or rapidly scaled.
If we can get to a point where prescribing medicinal cannabis feels as straightforward and defensible as any other treatment option, then we’ve done something meaningful.
What is the biggest opportunity — or challenge — facing the industry right now?
The biggest risk is losing discipline as the sector grows. There’s momentum, and that’s a good thing. But growth without consistency is where things start to unravel — variability in products, mixed messaging, uneven prescribing standards. That’s how trust gets eroded, and once that happens, it’s hard to rebuild.
The flip side is that we’re still early enough to get this right. If we stay focused on doing things properly — even when it’s slower or harder — New Zealand has a real opportunity to build a model that is both clinically credible and globally respected. Not just another market, but a benchmark.
What does meaningful progress look like in the next 12 months, and what are you personally focused on?
For me, progress is when things stop feeling variable and start feeling reliable. Clinicians know how to prescribe without hesitation. Patients have a consistent experience. The system supports both without constant workarounds or second-guessing.
My focus is on helping build that reliability — tightening prescribing frameworks, supporting clinicians on the ground, and making sure the system evolves in a way that actually holds together over time. Because if we get that foundation right, everything else — growth, innovation, reputation — follows naturally.