POT ADVOCATES DISS OFFICIAL GOV'T WEED

A local compassion club is taking pot shots at Manitoba's crop of medicinal
marijuana, claiming the government-sanctioned weed will only be half as
potent as the stuff available on the street.

"I've heard from more than one source that they've got some extremely weak
cannabis up there," said Geoff Hughes, spokesman for the Manitoba
Compassion Club. "It's like half the potency of what I would consider to be
acceptable, and that's a shame -- it's like they're growing baby Aspirins
up there."

The Manitoba Compassion Club was formed last November to dispense marijuana
- -- without government approval -- to people with serious medical conditions.

The club has 17 full-time members, all of whom were screened beforehand to
ensure they weren't just looking for a recreational high.

Crummy Cannabis

"Most young people already know where to get cannabis," Hughes said, noting
more than half his club's membership is over 40. "But one of our members is
in her 50s ... and it was very hard for her to get any, because people
didn't trust her."

Recently, Ottawa announced plans to begin dispensing medicinal marijuana to
Canadian residents suffering from chronic illnesses. But Hughes said the
government bud has been deemed bunk by several sources, including Cannabis
Culture magazine and national activist Marc Emery.

"It's like they'll just have to smoke twice as much," Hughes said,
admitting he's never actually sampled from the federal stash, which is
being harvested in an underground mine in Flin Flon.

Hughes said part of the problem lies with the government's reluctance to
involve active growers in the development of the medicinal strain. "To use
a wine analogy, it's like one guy told them, 'Look, I'll grow you guys a
nice Beaujolais,'" Hughes said. "They said, 'No, we'll just take these
grapes from here in the closet and throw 'em in and see what we get.'"

Hughes is also worried the government might start targeting compassion
clubs once they settle on their own means of distribution. "It's too bad
they don't just (work with) the people who have already put the effort into
creating these distribution systems," he said.

Health Canada spokeswoman Paige Raymond Kovach said the government-grown
crop will likely have THC levels of five to six per cent. THC is the active
ingredient in marijuana.

Hughes said marijuana available on the street -- and through the Compassion
Club -- can have THC levels ranging from 12% to 18%. But Raymond Kovach
also pointed out the government weed is being grown primarily for research
purposes, and that it won't be the only available option for people with
personal-use authorization.

"They can grow their own ... they can designate somebody to grow for them,
or they can make use of the research-grade medicinal marijuana," she said.

Raymond Kovach said there are currently 714 Canadians authorized to use
medicinal marijuana for compassionate reasons.