cannabisnews.com: Pot Factory Could Be Transplanted Pot Factory Could Be Transplanted Posted by CN Staff on April 09, 2003 at 11:37:03 PT By Lori Pappajohn, Record Reporter Source: Royal City Record If a federally licensed marijuana growing operation is located in the city, where is the best place for it? That was one of the questions discussed last Wednesday by Yoram Adler, deputy director of The Merlin Project with the B.C. Marijuana Factory, when he met with the city's senior planning analyst, Jim Hurst. The company has been growing marijuana legally for medicinal purposes in a residential neighbourhood in Queensborough. The company requested a meeting with the city to discuss alternative locations for their factories "for the sake of greater co-operation with the municipality." Hurst said that, at the meeting, the two parties discussed locations for the grow operation. "In general categories, where would you like to see this happen?" he asked. If people prefer not to have the growing operation in a residential area, would it be more suited in an industrial area? he asked. Hurst said he has had a number of calls from residents asking about the growing operation being in a residential area. They were calls of inquiry, much like the calls of inquiry the city received when Monarch Place, a house for women and children fleeing violence, opened in a residential area. "People know it's in their community and they want to know more about it." For their part, Adler says his company wants to co-operate with the city, although the city doesn't have jurisdiction over the growing operation, which is licensed by the federal government. "We don't mind moving at all," said Adler. "We asked the city to enter into these discussions." While legal medicinal marijuana grow operations are present in other Canadian cities, neither Hurst nor Keith Coueffin, the city's assistant director of strategic services, had investigated how these cities dealt with the operations. The marijuana is being grown for people who use it legally for medicinal purposes. Adler guesses that between 63 and 84 patients in New Westminster and Burnaby make use of the marijuana his factory grows. Medicinally, the plant is used for numerous applications, including chronic pain control, nausea control and for gaining back appetite for people with HIV or cancer. There are a number of medical research programs throughout the world focusing on medicinal marijuana use, including at McGill University in Montreal, St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and G.W. Pharmaceuticals in England. The latter has a clinical trial with 350 multiple sclerosis patients. The Dutch have approved pharmacies to dispense the plant with a doctors' prescription, said Adler. In Canada, the federal government has approved more than 800 licences for people to grow marijuana for personal medicinal use, as a personal-use producer or as a designated grower, said Adler. The B.C. Marijuana Factory has 60 plants growing. Its licence allows for 110. Source: Royal City Record (CN BC)Author: Lori Pappajohn, Record Reporter Published: Monday, April 07, 2003Copyright: 2003 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.Contact: editorial royalcityrecord.comWebsite: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/Related Articles & Web Site:The Merlin Projecthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/merlin.htmDrug Strategy Before Pot Factories http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15663.shtmlMedical Pot Helps Him Cope With Pain http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15658.shtmlPot Factory Sprouts Two New Locations http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15642.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 09, 2003 at 13:14:42 PT Videos from The Merlin Project http://www.themerlinproject.org/index2.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment