cannabisnews.com: Ottawa Hires Saskatoon Firm to Supply Pot 





Ottawa Hires Saskatoon Firm to Supply Pot 
Posted by FoM on December 22, 2000 at 10:51:48 PT
By Chris Wattie
Source: National Post 
A Saskatchewan company has won a $5.75-million contract to become Canada's first official supplier of marijuana, the federal government announced yesterday.Prairie Plant Systems Inc. will grow almost a tonne of what Health Canada calls "research-grade marijuana" over the five-year contract, as well as drying, processing and rolling the crop into more than a million cigarettes.
The Saskatoon-based company, which has specialized in fruit trees and replanting for most of its 10-year history, will grow the marijuana 360 metres underground, in an unused shaft of a copper and zinc mine in Flin Flon, Man.Brent Zettel, president of the firm, said the contract was the first of its kind. "It's a landmark in history -- the first contract in the world of this nature."However, he acknowledged with a laugh that he is not entirely sure how to make the adjustment from fruit tree planter to official drug supplier to the federal government."I'm not going to go out and buy a Lamborghini and sunglasses yet," he said in a telephone interview from Saskatoon. "I'm not ready for the drug dealer look."Prairie Plant Systems was selected over 34 competitors for the contract, based at least in part on the security of a greenhouse located deep in the bedrock of northern Manitoba."When they asked us about security, we told them that basically it was 360 metres underground and there was only one entrance," Mr. Zettel said. "They didn't quite believe us ... we had to bring them out and show them."The Manitoba-grown marijuana will be used for clinical trials to determine whether it is medically effective and safe for people suffering from diseases such as AIDS or cancer to smoke marijuana.The contract requires Prairie Plant Systems to supply the government with 185 kilograms of marijuana in the first year and 420 kilograms in subsequent crop years.The company will also be rolling marijuana cigarettes for delivery to the more than 140 people officials say are authorized to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.The marijuana will be provided free of charge, as long as the users take part in research programs, said Jody Gomber, director general of Health Canada's drug strategy and controlled substances program.In return for a free supply, the recipients and their doctors will have to provide feedback on the effect of the drugs on their illness, among other things."There has been a great deal of analytical evidence about effectiveness of marijuana for various illnesses but there is very little good scientific information," Ms. Gomber said."One of the things that's necessary in order to do good research is to have a standard and quality controlled source of the substance."The percentage of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in the Manitoba-grown marijuana will be between 5% and 6%, Ms. Gomber said."A Canadian source of research-grade marijuana is essential to move forward on our research plan," Health Minister Allan Rock said in a statement.The clinical trials, to begin in about a year, will be conducted amid fierce debate on the legalization of marijuana for both medicinal and general use.The federal government is considering changing its drug laws to allow the sick to smoke marijuana instead of the current practice of requiring people to seek individual exemptions, which was struck down as unconstitutional in the Ontario Court of Appeal.Last week, an Alberta judge ruled that the federal law banning cultivation of marijuana is unconstitutional because it does not allow for the medical use of the drug. Judge Darlene Acton said granting exemptions without a legal supply is an "absurdity."Source: National Post (Canada)Author: Chris WattiePublished: December 22, 2000Copyright: 2000 Southam Inc.Address: 300 - 1450 Don Mills RoadDon Mills, Ontario M3B 3R5Fax: (416) 442-2209Contact: letters nationalpost.comWebsite: http://www.nationalpost.com/Forum: http://forums.canada.com/~nationalpostRelated Articles & Web Sites:Prairie Plant Systemshttp://www.prairieplant.com/ Health Canadahttp://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/Legal Marijuana Operation Opens http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8093.shtmlPrairies Go To Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8092.shtmlFeds Grant $5.75-Million Contract To Company http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8082.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 04, 2001 at 15:58:17 PT:
Related Article
Firm Grows Medical Pot in Mine ShaftSource: Western Producers Author: D'Arce McMillan, Saskatoon NewsroomPublished: January 4, 2000Website: http://www.producer.com/Copyright: The Western ProducerPrairie Plant Systems is into underground pot production. What's even more surprising, the police are in on the action. In fact, the federal government is paying Prairie Plant Systems almost $6 million to grow marijuana. Is this a massive conspiracy to deride Canada's drug laws? No. Health Canada has awarded the Saskatoon-based company a five-year contract to produce marijuana as a pharmaceutical. Grown and processed to exacting standards, some of the marijuana will be supplied to a select list of people suffering debilitating illness. But the majority of the almost two tonnes over five years will go to researchers who will try to determine what it is in the plant that makes it a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory. People with conditions as diverse as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, AIDS and arthritis have in some cases found cannabis relieves symptoms. Prairie Plant Systems was chosen to produce the marijuana because of its expertise and because of its unusual facility -- a plant growth chamber in the Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting Co. Ltd. copper and zinc mine at Flin Flon, Man. Plants are grown 360 metres below the earth's surface in a 24-hour environmentally controlled space. Without stress and with a slightly elevated carbon dioxide air source, plants grow faster than they would in a greenhouse. "We identified way back that we could grow plants fast and we could grow them well, but because of the expense we had to grow things of high value," said Brent Zettl, company president. Pharmaceuticals from plants fit the bill. The company already has grown the Pacific yew tree that produces the cancer drug Taxol, genetically engineered tobacco that produces a pharmaceutical protein, genetically engineered canola that produces hiridin, an anticoagulant, and soon will be growing a polio-vaccine engineered rice. Growing cannabis in a mine shaft offers obvious security benefits, he said. The Flin Flon mine, and another in the United States, is one reason the company has targeted the bio-pharmaceutical market, he said. In the Health Canada project, PPS is responsible for obtaining marijuana seeds from an approved source and screening them for the characteristics needed. Once varieties are selected, PPS will grow the plants and clone them for uniform production. PPS has hired staff to run the laboratory to do the required quality control and measure the five active components of the plant's chemical makeup, including tetrahydrocannabinol, the ingredient that produces a euphoric feeling. "They are really stringent," Zettl said. "If they are going to test a patient with this, they have to define what it is that's going into the patient and know how it affects the patient." To ensure the operation does not produce unauthorized pot, staff have undergone fingerprinting and security checks by the RCMP and are subject to random checks by the police and Health Canada, he said. While there will be growing pains pioneering this work, Zettl is delighted to have won the contract because it gives legitimacy to bio-pharmaceuticals. "We've been preaching this concept for the last five years and we've been getting sideways looks, especially from the finance community. "Now with this contract, it will bring some legitimacy to what we've been talking about and crystalize this concept of bio-pharmaceutical production and pave the way for future research dollars." 
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Comment #1 posted by Rev. Jonathan Adler on December 24, 2000 at 15:28:52 PT:
Medical Marijuana Contract!
We are stoked to see Canada recognize a facility for research supply of medical cannabis! That is exactly whatwe have been doing for many years here in Hawaii on a smaller scale. We are in contact with Ethan Russo and Dennis Israelski both of whom run approved research projects and have been told there is no other legal source for material domestically to obtain. DEA needs to ask FDA to ask Justice Dept. to approve the Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute as the supplier of "medical grade cannabis" domestically and let Dr. Pot; Geoffrey Lewis in England and this Canadian Prairie Plants; grow for their own counrties and we'll grow for ours! How can DEA say we are obstructed from using an AMERICAN COMPANY to supply medical marijuana to AMERICAN projects and patients!? But it's ok to get it from a cultivator in another country? Sorry, it won't wash!Aloha from the Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute; home of "volcanic organic medijuana" (TM) Mahalo! Rev. Jon Adler
Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute
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