cannabisnews.com: Nudist Pot-Smokers Seek Federal Growing Contract!





Nudist Pot-Smokers Seek Federal Growing Contract!
Posted by FoM on June 16, 1999 at 06:29:59 PT
Convert jail into farm to grow pot for sick!
Source: National Post
The federal government officially unveiled its plan for clinical trials of marijuana only yesterday, but Allan Rock, the Health Minister, has already received one intriguing application from a group seeking the contract to supply researchers with medical-grade pot.
The reverend brothers Michael Baldasaro and Walter Tucker, of the Church of the Universe, a Hamilton, Ont.-based denomination that practises nudity and uses marijuana as a sacrament, want to turn a soon-to-be closed provincial jail into the country's most secure farm. "It would be the same security system. Everything is in place," Brother Tucker said yesterday, of the church's proposal to find a new use for the Guelph Correctional Centre. "You move the people out, bring in the plants, put in a few more lights and you've got a grow-room that can't be compared anywhere in Canada." The 88-year-old facility, formerly known as the Ontario Reformatory, is slated to be shut down later this year. Under the plan Mr. Rock tabled in the House of Commons yesterday, the federal government will spend $3.5-million to study marijuana's effectiveness in helping AIDS and cancer patients stimulate their appetites and control nausea and vomiting, relieving muscle pain and spasms in multiple sclerosis patients, and glaucoma sufferers' eye pain. The three-phase project will look at the relative benefits of pot smoke, extracts and chemically synthesized THC -- the active component in the drug. The plan also calls on Health Canada to secure a dependable source of high-quality marijuana. The Church of the Universe strongly supports the medical use of marijuana and already donates some of its own supply of the plant to the clubs that have sprung up across the country to provide sick people with access to the illicit drug. The bearded brothers Baldasaro and Tucker, abbot and archbishop of the church respectively, have had their own brushes with the courts over the last 30 years because of Canada's prohibition on marijuana. But they say the trafficking and possession charges simply prove the church has the necessary expertise the government and private industry lacks. "Of course they can't get the quality," scoffed Brother Baldasaro, who waged an unsuccessful campaign for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative party last summer. "They keep breaking down the doors and stealing the grow equipment from the poor farmers." Brother Baldasaro said the church wants to be involved in the clinical trials to ensure that the research is conducted with top-grade bud. He fears the federal government will endeavour to skew the results by using inferior pot. And, as serendipity would have it, the church already has an expert standing by on site ready to implement their proposal. Brother Korneleis Klevering will be a guest of the jail until October, following his conviction for cultivating a field of some 300 plants. "He's our man. He's our main grower. He has degrees from the University of Guelph in agriculture," said Brother Baldasaro. "The man is eminently qualified for anything to do with the hemp plant." A spokesman for Mr. Rock declined to comment on the church's proposal, but suggested it might be a bit premature. Health Canada is currently working on a business plan, said Derek Kent, and won't be calling for applications until later this year. The brothers, however, are perfectly willing to wait for an official response. "We don't mind if they set the criteria," said Brother Tucker. "All they have to do is give us the OK. We've got the seeds. We're ready to go."http://www.nationalpost.com/news.asp?f=990610/2705189.html
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