TAYLOR FACES CANNABIS CONUNDRUM

The Marijuana Party's leader Brian Taylor could be facing a showdown
with Health Canada over the monopoly to grow medicinal marijuana.

While no shots have been fired yet, the Grand Forks maverick is not
sure how the feds will react to a new invention his Cannabis Research
Institute (CRI) has designed to allow people to grow medicinal-grade
marijuana in the comfort of their own homes.

The plans have been in the works for a couple of years, though
Ottawa's decision to grant a five-year contract to a Saskatchewan
company, instead of CRI, to grow medicinal marijuana for approved
testing, seems to have spurred the Grand Forks company's production
of the unit.

"They just don't want to play ball with us," Taylor says of Health Canada.

The newest Baltic plywood version of the personal grow unit, or PGU,
is about the size of a closet and is powered by a 400-watt light,
which Taylor estimates should cost about $20 a month to operate.
There is also a 30-watt fluorescent light for a vegetation and
cloning chamber in the basement of the unit. The PGU is designed to
grow seven plants and has a full hydroponics set-up, including trays,
pumps, chambers and reservoirs.

The CRI board did receive a legal opinion and made the decision on
March 30 to go ahead and make the grow unit available to the public.
There are plans to sell it at the Grand Forks Hemp Company store when
it opens next month.

"We were honest with Health Canada from the very beginning," says Taylor.

He is a little wary about how the federal government might respond
once the item is on the market.

"Civil disobedience is not something a company should do," he admits.

Taylor does not know whether Health Canada will punish his company
for producing what could be seen as "paraphernalia" for illegal
substances. He does point out the grow unit can be used for other
things. Taylor gave his father one and says his dad is happy using it
to grow tomatoes.

He has been communicating via e-mail with Health Canada and was told
by a department official that the issue of whether the PGU is
paraphernalia is not a controlled drugs and substances issue but a
Criminal Code one.