cannabisnews.com: Checking Out The Pot Factory Checking Out The Pot Factory Posted by CN Staff on March 04, 2003 at 16:04:08 PT By Dan Hilborn, Record Reporter Source: Royal City Record Michael Maniotis was already standing at the front door of the Marijuana Factory's grow operation in Queensborough when the provincial electrical inspectors showed up promptly at 9 a.m. Wednesday. At first, the bearded pot grower was indignant that two inspectors had arrived, when he believed there was an agreement to allow only one inspector - plus a reporter from the local newspaper - to tour the city's first federally licensed marijuana growing facility. After a little bit of fussing and fuming - something to set the tone for the half-hour inspection - one inspector agreed to wait out in the car while his partner was allowed to enter. Maniotis turned to the reporter to acknowledge that he was being a bit bullheaded in refusing to let both of the men enter. But he also has his reasons. "They know this is their one last chance to shut us down," says one of the lead players in the nationwide battle to grow legal marijuana for medicinal purposes. As a founder of the Merlin Project - a pro-pot activist group with 3,000 members - Maniotis believes he is at the cutting edge of a major breakthrough in Canadian health and drug policy. Last month, the Marijuana Factory harvested its first crop - about 2.5 pounds of green B.C. bud - which was promptly doled out to Merlin Project members such as Yoram Adler, who suffers from a chronic medical condition. Adler's role is key to the Merlin Project. As a director of the operation, he holds both the licence to possess marijuana and the licence to grow it issued by Health Canada. According to the federal government's Office of Cannabis Medical Access, a total of 541 marijuana possession licences have been issued since July 30, 2001, when the federal government decided to allow the drug to be used by people "suffering from grave and debilitating illnesses." While Adler holds the licence, Maniotis is clearly the pot growing expert. Before the inspector reaches the basement, where two separate grow rooms are hidden behind doors made of plastic sheeting and duct tape, the first safety problem is discovered and Maniotis is quick to offer a solution. The electrical sockets in the upstairs walls are found to be improperly grounded, but Maniotis insists the problem will be fixed immediately. The downstairs of the home is the heart of the Marijuana Factory. Here are two separate grow rooms, each lit with a single air-cooled, 1,000-watt lamp that dangles from a chain hanging off the ceiling. The main room holds the mother plant, a bushy 74-cm-tall marijuana sprig that provides the clippings that will eventually grow into the harvested material. The mother plant is surrounded by a round ceramic contraption Maniotis calls 'the coliseum,' which holds 50 of the mother plant clippings known as 'clones.' When the clones grow large enough, they will be transplanted into larger pots and moved into the second room, where the light and temperature is rigidly controlled to ensure the plants produce the potent flowering buds. Inside the grow rooms, the inspector finds more problems with the operation and tells Maniotis that all his sockets must be properly grounded and those grounds must have circuit interrupters. At this point, the second inspector, Mario Conceicao, is invited into the house to confirm the deficiencies found by his partner. Conceicao says he has never seen a legal marijuana grow operation before. Typically, electrical inspectors are only involved after police have shut down an illegal grow operation and the homeowner has had to undergo expensive repairs, he says. After just a half-hour tour, the two inspectors leave the house to discuss their findings and write their report. All that Maniotis and Adler can do is wait for the verdict. And the Marijuana Factory is left alone to continue their experiment until another day. E-Mail: dhilborn burnabynow.com Source: Royal City Record (CN BC)Author: Dan Hilborn, Record Reporter Published: March 3, 2003Copyright: 2003 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.Contact: editorial royalcityrecord.comWebsite: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmMedical Marijuana Factoryhttp://www.medicalmarihuana.ca/factory.htmlPolice Not Invited To New Legal Grow-op http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14363.shtmlB.C. Marijuana Factory Opens To Produce Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14308.shtmlPot Factory To Be First in Canada, Group Says http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14295.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by mayan on March 04, 2003 at 18:24:00 PT FoM... Thanks for the pictures! I hope they leave Maniotis alone. They very well may, as the U.S. seems to be losing some of it's influence with Canada. Chretien is raising some big questions regarding the Bush administration's foreign policy! I believe if either Blair or Chretien back out, the other will follow. If these two leaders truly want to distance themselves from the Bush Regime, legalizing cannabis would be a good way to start! The wheels may be falling off of the Shrub's war machine...Who’s going to be next? Canada’s prime minister denounces US “regime change” policy: http://www.gooff.com/NM/templates/Breaking_News.asp?articleid=198&zoneid=2March 5th National Student Strike - Books Not Bombs! Stop the War Against Iraq! http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1821.htmMARCH 5 - National Moratorium to Stop the War on Iraq: http://www.notinourname.net/call_for_the_moratorium.htmlThe way out is the way in -WHO GAVE THE GREEN LIGHT FOR 9/11? http://www.willthomas.net/911part1.htmKaminski's Best 9/11 Sites - 4th Edition: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0302/S00024.htm9/11 Prior Knowledge/Government Involvement Archive: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledge [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by afterburner on March 04, 2003 at 18:19:54 PT: Decriminalization sparks faith-based debate. Preview of upcoming Canadian TV program:Host: "The recent decision to decriminalize marijuana has sparked a debate in faith-based communities. Some feel it was long overdue. Others believe where there's smoke, there's fire." Female guest: "There's absolutely a contradiction with what the government is attempting to do."Male guest: "Cannabis is something that definitely opens doors of perception in different ways and is a connection to spirituality."Host: "Can smoking pot help you to reach the highest state of enlightenment?"360 Vision - Thursday at 8pm ET/PT only on Vision TV. [2003.March.6]----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------the second inspector, Mario Conceicao, ... says he has never seen a legal marijuana grow operation before."a legal marijuana grow operation, a legal marijuana grow operation, a legal marijuana grow operation." Only in Canada, you say? Pity. Insp. Dave Jones of the New Westminster police services ... said the police are currently waiting to see the impact of a Jan. 9, 2003 Ontario Superior Court ruling to strike down the federal marijuana laws. "For us, this is a whole new area and a whole new era of regulations in law," said Jones. "We kind of have to take a ride for a while to see where this goes." But while the Marijuana Factory appears to be on safe ground for the time being, it has not always been that way. Pot factory sprouts two new locations in New Westminster http://www.royalcityrecord.com/031103/news/031103nn2.htmlego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 04, 2003 at 16:25:59 PT Direct Link To Article - Pictures To View http://www.royalcityrecord.com/031103/news/031103nn1.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment