B.C. POT GROWER OFFERS OTTAWA SUPPLIES

Federal Medical Pot Program Stalled Without Seed

OTTAWA (CP) - British Columbia's leading cannabis
grower says he will happily offer a seed supply to the hard-pressed
federal Health Department, which is still doing without.

Mark Emery, proprietor of Vancouver-based Mark Emery Seeds, says it's
ludicrous that Canada's medical pot program should be held up by
problems finding seeds.

"Why don't they just get them from me?" Emery asked in an interview
Tuesday. "I'm the most well-known seed seller in the world and I'm
right here in Vancouver and they can talk to me any time they want."

Emery said he was amazed by recent news reports that Prairie Plant
Systems of Saskatoon, selected by Ottawa to grow marijuana for
medicinal purposes, has been unable to obtain seeds.

The reports said U.S. authorities have been reluctant to clear exports
of seeds from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NAIDA).

"I couldn't believe it, I was just shocked when I saw it," said
Emery. "I have 450 varieties they can choose from."

Since 1997, about 210 seriously ill people have been exempted from
Canada's marijuana possession laws but they have not been provided a
legal source of supply.

Last July, the Ontario Court of Appeal gave the government a year to
revise the law to allow for medical use.

In April, the government released a new policy allowing marijuana to
be used by people with terminal illnesses or chronic diseases.
Applicants would have to prove there was no other acceptable treatment
option. But patients are getting frustrated with delays in obtaining a
legal supply.

Emery he would provide seeds free of charge if they were to be used in
a medical program.

Roslyn Tremblay, a Health Department spokeswoman, declined to comment
on the status of negotiations with NAIDA but denied there's a problem.

"These things take time. They're talking about substances that have
absolutely zero legal status in the world. There's all sorts of laws
and policies that kick in.

"So you need export and import permits etcetera etcetera. It's just
time, that's all. I don't see a problem."

She wouldn't comment on Emery's offer of free seeds.

Officials at Prairie Plant Systems did not return repeated calls. The
company received a contract to grow medical pot in December.

Dana Larsen, editor of Vancouver's Cannabis Culture magazine, said the
federal government is in a catch 22.

"Trying to find someone who can provide an illegal product legally is
very difficult, so it just shows the hypocrisy of the efforts they're
trying to make."

Larsen said it would be a serious mistake to get seeds from
NAIDA.

"This stuff produced at the University of Mississippi, where the
American government grows its medical marijuana supply, is the
crappiest, swaggiest pot I've seen in my life."

Larsen said he met one of the seven patients receiving marijuana from
the NAIDA program.

"She showed me the joints they give her, full of seeds and stock and
crap, it's mostly leaf. If they're going to be using that to give to
medical patients in Canada it will be even more of a travesty than we
have right now.

"The pot that the U.S. government grows, I wouldn't buy it on the
street."

The federal government should be getting potent marijuana from B.C.
growers whose products have become world famous, said Larsen.

Dan Lohendorf, a B.C. writer who covers marijuana issues, says the
government hopes to wrest control of the B.C. marijuana industry from
the people who built it.

"I think that it's really heinous. They can't even get seeds to
grow."

Industry sales are unofficially estimated at $3 billion to $5 billion
annually.

"We've got all the expertise we need out there," said Lohendorf. "We
also have excellent genetic seed stocks from fine commercial growers
in British Columbia who've been developing these strains."