MERLIN PROJECT PLANS TO GROW POT DOWNTOWN

A legal marijuana grow operation will be set up downtown in a
first-of-its-kind project linking medicinal pot users and experienced growers.

Michael Maniotis, director of The Merlin Project, said most medicinal
marijuana users believe they either have to grow the plants themselves or
buy from the Canadian government's marijuana grow operation in Flin Flon, Man.

However, Maniotis said a review of Health Canada's guidelines surrounding
use of medical marijuana shows licensed users can designate other people to
legally grow for them.

"We are taking full advantage of the limitations of the regulations, which
allow for three designated growers in one location," said Maniotis, adding
The Merlin Project's first such location will be within 150 metres of the
project's 319 West Pender St. office.

The Merlin Project has five directors and opened July 4, the day Health
Canada posted its medicinal marijuana guidelines on the Internet. The
downtown office provides information on how to get a licence to use
marijuana to help deal with illness, plus a series of seminars on how to
grow pot, starting Sept. 20.

"This is the first of its kind in Canada," Maniotis said. "It's an easy
concept to grasp if you're in the culture and understand the need for it,
though it's probably not the way Health Canada wants it implemented."

Maniotis said hordes of people have visited the office looking for
information, including seasoned marijuana growers interested in community
service.

"Obviously the growers have been doing so covertly, some for as long as 30
years, but they are slowly coming out of the closet, so to speak. They can
apply their skills to something that is extremely beneficial to thousands
and thousands of people."

The path for medicinal marijuana use in Canada was paved late last year
when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled a sick Ontario man had the
right-under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms-to grow and smoke
marijuana.

The Canadian government has since established its own grow-op in a mine in
Flin Flon. However, that pot can only be grown from seeds seized during
drug busts, so the potency and type of marijuana being grown is unknown.

Maniotis predicts long delays and lots of paperwork for people who try to
get their medicinal marijuana from the government, and says the Merlin
Project is a way to bypass those headaches.

The grow-op, the rent and supplies for which will be paid by the project,
will be open to the public and will include a museum detailing the
evolution of B.C.'s marijuana-growing industry, estimated to be worth $3
billion a year.

The operation will contain between 50 and 100 plants, which are already
being cultivated at a secret location pending approval of the medicinal
marijuana licence for the user who has designated the growers, whom
Maniotis refused to identify. Approval is expected within a month, after
which six similar grow homes will be set up around the city.

Insp. Kash Heed, commanding officer for the Vancouver Police Department's
vice and drug section, had not heard of the Merlin Project, but doubted
whether a grow operation will be as easy to establish as Maniotis hopes.

Heed said Health Canada will likely want to interview Maniotis once the
grow-op plans become public. He added it's unlikely the city would approve
a grow-op for 100 plants because it would need several high-intensity
lights that are a potential fire hazard.

However, Heed agreed that it's within Health Canada's guidelines for
licensed medical marijuana users to assign a third party to grow pot for
them, although he's unaware of any licensed users or growers in B.C.
Growers must also be licensed by the federal government.

Maniotis said the Merlin Project wants to raise the profile of third-party
medicinal marijuana growers before pharmaceutical companies realize how
much money can be made from supplying marijuana to licensed users.

"If we can't provide for ourselves locally, these companies will move in.
We want Canadians to be aware of what they can do in their own communities."

A Health Canada spokesman was unavalaible for comment at the Courier's
presstime.