Synthetic cannabis can have a far more powerful effect on the brain and the side effects cans be extremely unpredictable compared to marijuana. Video / NZ Herald
A former leader of New Zealand’s legal high market is facing charges in the United States over 170 kilograms of the synthetic cannabis substance called Kronic.
The charge sheet for Matthew Biuwe Wielenga alleges felony charges of conspiring to distribute a controlled substance and money laundering - and refers to him as “King Kronic” and “Mr Kronic”.
Wielenga’s Kenneth White lawyer said: “I can tell you that I’m looking forward to defending Mr Wielenga and asserting all of his rights.”
The Herald understands Wielenga is in jail in San Diego, where he awaits trial. US court records show efforts were made to get bail.
Wielenga was among the high-profile entrepreneurs who made a fortune out of the briefly permissive legal high market which hit a wall in 2011 when those using the substances began reporting adverse effects.
It led to the government playing whack-a-mole with chemical variations on legal high themes through to 2013, when the substances - some of which were sold in dairies - were squeezed out of the market.
Matthew Wielenga made his fortune in legal highs, then set up 3D printing business Zenith Tecnica.
At the market boom’s height, Wielenga was said to have been pulling in $700,000 a month selling the substances.
It was a New Zealand-conceived product over which Wielenga was charged in the US, with court records alleging Wielenga was planning to traffic in 5F-CUMYL-PINACA.
The substance was originally patented by Matt Bowden, who was known as a “Godfather of the legal high industry”, but his legal hold on the substance lapsed during a five-year period when he lived in Thailand. He has no connection to Wielenga’s case.
The same substance next turned up in the United Kingdom in 2018, where it was being sold as “Kronic Juice”. Testing of Kronic Juice revealed the presence of the substance, which had been made illegal in the UK, and it was banned from sale.
Matthew Wielenga at the height of the boom in the legal market. Photo / Supplied
While it was the same substance and used the name Kronic, there is no information to show Wielenga was connected to the UK distribution.
The alleged criminal activity in the US took place between April 2019 and July 2022, according to a grand jury indictment from the US District Court in Southern California. Despite the case being focused in the US, the Herald understands Wielenga to still be based out of New Zealand.
US court documents show Homeland Security’s case was that Wielenga was involved in a conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and a conspiracy to launder money relating to the chemical compound. The charges carry a maximum 40 years in a federal prison.
Other court papers show the case was linked to a United States citizen called Joseph A Girouard, although he is standing trial separately. One court filing in Girouard’s case alleged the cases were “part of the same alleged criminal event or transaction”.
Kronic was linked to adverse health impacts on users.
The indictment was returned from the grand jury in June last year. The next month, Wielenga was removed as a director from Zenith Tecnica, the 3D printing company he started in 2014. There is currently no reference to Wielenga on the company website. A spokesman for the company confirmed Wielenga had stepped down as a director “after he was arrested”.
The spokesman said Wielenga had not had day-to-day involvement in the company for some time before the arrest and had no involvement since. He said the business - ultimately owned by Wielenga - was profitable in its own right and not reliant on its owner for funding.
It’s not the first time Wielenga has faced court over synthetic cannabis, with Australian authorities charging him in 2011. The case was dropped in 2014.
Wielenga was among a cluster of young entrepreneurs who embraced the legal high market when it emerged in the mid-2000s.
In the decade that followed, a range of products proliferated through the New Zealand market, with Wielenga’s Kronic one of the most well-known brands.
Photo / File
By 2014, the legal high market was brought short after a pathway to the sale of substances was frustrated by a testing regime that was unable to include animals. The government’s enthusiasm for legal highs was further dampened by the sale of products which appeared to be causing serious harm to users.
That year, Wielenga bought a North Shore beachfront property for $4.5 million that Auckland Council currently lists valued at $17.5m. Property records show he maintained an interest in it.
