MEDICAL MARIJUANA MARKUP 1,500%

OTTAWA - The federal government charges patients 15 times more
for certified medical marijuana than it pays to buy the weed in bulk
from its official supplier, newly released documents show.

Critics say it's unconscionable to charge that high a markup to some
of the country's sickest citizens, who have little income and are
often cut off from their medical marijuana supply when they can't pay
their government dope bills.

Records obtained under the Access to Information Act show that Health
Canada pays $328.75 for each kilogram of bulk medical marijuana
produced by Prairie Plant Systems Inc.

The company currently has a $10.3-million contract with Health Canada,
which expires at the end of September, to grow standardized medical
marijuana in an abandoned mine shaft in Flin Flon, Man.

Health Canada, in turn, sells the marijuana to a small group of
authorized users for $150 -- plus GST -- for each 30-gram bag of
ground-up flowering tops, with a strength of up to 14-per-cent THC,
the main active ingredient. That works out to $5,000 for each
kilogram, or a markup of more than 1,500 per cent.

"It's impossible for a person on disability," said Ron Lawrence, 38, a
burn victim in Windsor, Ont., who needs medical marijuana to control
severe pain. "The sickest people are the ones that need it the most
. they're the ones who don't work."

Currently, 149 patients are officially in arrears -- almost a third of
the 514 patients who order government-certified dope -- collectively
owing Health Canada $143,611 in outstanding payments. Many have been
cut off from their supplies, though Health Canada was not able to
indicate the number.