Paddy Gower Wants Your Flat to Have Cones and Watch His New Doco

Kirsty Frame | Ngāti Kahungunu | She/Her
Te Aorewa Rolleston | Ngāi te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui | She/Her
Matthew Casey | He/Him

Yup, you read that right. We caught up with Patrick ‘Paddy’ Gower ahead of the third installment of his documentary series: On Weed to chat cannabis, getting snapped, and why we’re no longer using the term ‘stoner’. 

Gower is both a VUW and Salient alumni, which may explain why he occasionally addressed us as “bro”s while we spoke over the phone. As a previous sports columnist for Salient in 1998, Paddy later revealed he was probably under the influence while coming up with a lot of the articles. Things have come full circle for him now; he’s working with weed all these years later, just in a different kinda way.

We ease in by sharing experiences of getting snapped. For those unfamiliar with the term—it’s basically about getting caught in the weed act. A lot of us have yarns about getting snapped growing up, be it at your aunty’s supposedly empty bach, your garden shed or when your parents find the flat bong.

While the main “admission” story is filmed for the documentary, Gower gave us an extra yarn about being almost snapped during his uni days on Adams Terrace. Like many of us, his parents made the novelty visit here to check out their son’s flat and quietly fret over his habits. Paddy shares that his parents were perplexed to discover a series of knives which were burnt black at the tips, leading to a subtle trip down to Briscoes.

“I think everyone’s been through that—going down to Briscoes and getting a few sets of knives because the others kept getting burnt… somehow.”

Now well beyond his years at uni, Paddy Gower has subbed out his political editing portfolio for investigative documentaries. On Weed first screened last year in two parts, which focused predominantly on medicinal and recreational uses in Aotearoa. What’s clear from the series is one thing: you can reel people in with a laugh, but make them stay for the substance (no pun intended).

But for real, there’s a natural attraction to this series for it’s “crack-up, it’s the guy from the ‘fuckin news’ smoking weed” allure. The series is much more than that. On Weed is a sensible and humanising investigation of an industry most are not allowed to be in, many contribute to, and even more don’t see.

The cannabis debate is, at the very human level, also surrounded by deeply-rooted stigmas. Gower is simply one journalist in these conversations actively trying to deconstruct them. Through these three installments, Paddy has had a wealth of access to people in the multi-leveled industries. We tapped into some of the insights he’s collected along the way.

A significant discussion that has come out of the cannabis legalisation debate is the impact this has on criminalised communities. Paddy makes it clear from the get go that he thinks that “the use of cannabis to criminalise Māori is racist” and that this is backed up by “hard facts.”

Māori make up over half of the population of incarcerated people here in Aotearoa, but ironically they make up less than 20% of Aotearoa’s total population. Many Māori are behind bars for sentences relating to cannabis consumption and possession. Paddy went on to tell us that it’s a lot harder for Māori to get out of the justice system than it is for non-Māori. 

“Let’s face it, if I was done for smoking dope at uni, I probably would get off, a Māori guy the same age, probably wouldn’t.”

During these investigations, Paddy has spoken to an underground grower of 30 years who now works legally growing medical cannabis. He believes this is a great example of what potential legalisation holds for those currently underground. 

“It would be a game changer for Māori if we legalise weed and cut this racist crap out of their lives.”

We go to chat about the S word—stoner. The slang is commonly used to celebrate, but notably more so to criticise those who use cannabis habitually. We know, as students, that some of us use cannabis to ease symptoms of stress, feelings of anxiety and even depression. One of the many stigmas associated with cannabis is the negative connotation ‘stoner’ carries.

“[Weed users] do feel stigmatised, they do feel like outsiders, they feel that people don’t understand the plant as well as they do. It’s not something that needs to be stigmatised, people need to understand and accept it, whether it’s legal or not”

That’s why he has actively dropped the word, and doesn’t use it in the documentary, to better reframe narratives in destigmatising directions. Paddy took it further, concurrently sarcastic and sincere, to extend an apology to Salient for using the S-word, ever. We accepted his apology on behalf of past Editors of this magazine.

Naturally, we close up on sesh-chat, notably the tunes we prefer when hypothetically lighting up. Paddy’s choice is Legend—the 1984 compilation album of hits by Bob Marley and The Wailers with a huge shout out to the track Exodus. Paddy would have them on loop to take him “back in the day”. We imagine this reference of nostalgia involved fond memories of kitchen knives. 

What’s clear from our speaker phone chat is this: Paddy know’s his audiences, and honestly, it’s respectable—he calls us bro and we call him Paddy. When we got down to it, we were at the same level discussing the complexities of underground markets. To have such conversations with someone the same age as our parents is refreshing, and it’s an active reminder of how these conversations on cannabis should go. 

The documentary is on Three this Monday at 8:30pm, though those in flats without Sky can chromecast, or something, on Three Now. You can also listen to our chat with Paddy G on all good streaming platforms, via The Young Matt Show.