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Photo: Unsplash / RNZ When you drive south down State Highway 1 to get to the Cannabis Clinic in Auckland, you can't ignore the exit number: 420. The number - spoken as four-twenty - is cultural slang for weed. But Dr Waseem Alzaher assures me that isn't why he chose the swanky beachside suburb of Takapuna for the location of what would become New Zealand's largest prescriber of medicinal cannabis. Really, it was convenient and Takapuna doesn't scream weed (it gives off more of a sneaky-bit-of-cocaine, $100 bottle of red kinda vibe). "It is part of why the universe ended up putting us here," says Alzaher, who spent time as an emergency room doctor and as a GP before setting up the Cannabis Clinic. "It was all meant to be: exit 420, a big cannabis clinic, big cannabis pharmacy and then we...

Auckland house prices fell 0.7 percent in September. File photo. Photo: 123rf New Zealand's property downturn continues, Corelogic says, but it may not last much longer. Its house value index shows that prices fell another 0.5 percent in September, the seventh fall in a row. Values are 16 percent higher than in March 2020 but 18 percent below their Covid boom peak. Hamilton was down 1.2 percent in September, Wellington 0.5 percent and Auckland 0.7 percent. Christchurch values were flat and Dunedin's were slightly up. Chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said there were signs falling mortgage rates had started to boost sentiment but that was yet to show up in the data. "I think you've probably got to call this a downturn. The language has been 'it's a bit soft, it's soggy, ticking al...