POT PUTS ZETTL IN THE BLACK

Grow Operation Is For Love, Not Money

The company producing medical marijuana for the federal government says
they're in the pharmaceutical plant business for love, not money.

Profits on Canada's first official pot crop since 1923 are marginal, said
Brent Zettl, president of Prairie Plant Systems.

"There's a wee bit of a margin, but it's not stellar," said Zettl, whose
company is growing pot for Health Canada.

The feds ponied up $5.7 million for Prairie Plant Systems to produce 1,925
kilograms of marijuana over five years.

That works out to about $3 a gram, and Zettl said Health Canada is
considering supplying medical marijuana for just over $2 a gram.

"The reason we priced it that way was because we're viewing this more as a
proof of concept."

The company's profits are also offset by a $1.7 investment to build the
facility, buried in a rebuilt mine a kilometre below Flin-Flon, Man., Zettl
said.

Zettl said he's banking on the hope the ultra-secure underground facility
built to house the grow operation can be used to produce pharmacological
plants.

Should the scientific developments evolve as expected, it may be possible
to introduce genes into plants causing them, for example, to produce
proteins that fight cancer, he said.

"We see that the need would be there for the privacy and security we have."

Higher aspirations are motivating the work, said Zettl.

"Plus, from a philosophical standpoint, it's nice to make people feel
better and help them out.

"The marijuana project is really about quality of life issues for people in
this country."