WEBSITE OFFERS CANADIANS MAIL-ORDER MARIJUANA

Canada Post Looking Into Operation Using P.O. Box To Sell Pot

VANCOUVER -- Canada Post has said it will investigate a
Vancouver-based marijuana mail-order business that provides "fast,
discreet" service to those declaring they suffer from one of a host of
medical ailments.

Canada Post spokesman John Caines said it would be up to police to say
whether the postal pot operation, called Bud Buddy, was breaking the
law. But the Crown corporation will probe its use of the national mail
service.

"I'll bring it up to our legal people and they'll advise us on what
we're going to do then," John Caines said from Ottawa. "We're going to
look into it."

B.C. solicitor general Rich Coleman, meanwhile, said Saturday that he
hoped police would launch their own investigation into what seemed to
be simply another illegal way of selling an illegal drug.

"My expectations are no different on this than it would have been on
the Da Kine cafe," he said, referring to the Vancouver cafe that
closed this week following the arrest of owner Carol Gwilt and seven
employees on marijuana trafficking charges.

"If law enforcement is made aware of something that's illegal, my
expectation is that it would investigated and the laws of the country
would be enforced."

Bud Buddy (www.budbuddy.biz) has been in business since August of last
year. It describes itself as "Canada's premium mail-order marijuana
delivery service."

It claims to provide "world-class marijuana" -- ranging from
California Orange to Jamaican Sugar and Durban Poison -- that is
"always clean, well-cured, tasty and potent." On its website, it
offers three grams of bud for $35, seven for $70, 14 for $130 and 28
for $250.

Bud Buddy ships only in Canada. And it tells customers to place their
order only via regular mail or Canada Post Xpresspost, sending cash or
a money order (plus a $10 shipping fee) to a postal box.

Dana Larsen, editor of Cannabis Culture Magazine, said he could
recommend Bud Buddy (one of three marijuana mail-order websites he
knows of) as reliable and honest. He wouldn't reveal the name of the
person operating it.

"He's a Vancouver person who decided this would be a good way to get
marijuana to people who need it," Larsen said.

An e-mail attempt to get an interview with Bud Buddy was unsuccessful
Saturday.

Marijuana is an illegal drug in Canada, and its sale or possession is
outlawed except for federally sanctioned medicinal purposes.

On its order form, Bud Buddy asks customers to certify they are over
18 and suffer from one of a long list of "applicable ailments"
cannabis is said to relieve or treat.

The list includes anorexia, mood swings, constipation, panic disorder,
and muscle spasms.

Caines said unless authorized by Health Canada, medical marijuana is
not supposed to be shipped through the mail.