FIRM DEFENDS GOV'T-APPROVED MARIJUANA'S EFFECTIVENESS

Brent Zettl, the president of Prairie Plant Systems, says he isn't
told by Health Canada the names of the end-users of the marijuana his
company grows in an abandoned mine in Flin Flon.

But if he could call them up and talk to them, Zettl would assure them
the pot Prairie Plant Systems delivered to Health Canada under its
$5.75-million contract averages about 10 per cent in THC content. THC
is the active ingredient in marijuana.

It's certainly not the three per cent claimed by Web site
medicalmarihuana.ca, said Zettl. The site carried an article which
states it sent a sample of medical marijuana to a lab to compare it
with a sample grown by or for the Vancouver Island Compassion Club
Society. A Canadian Press article Tuesday also quoted a handful of
users as well as patients' rights group Canadians for Safe Access that
were dissatisfied with the product.

The lobby group and the Internet article said the product only has
three per cent THC, while 10 per cent is what most product on the
street contains. The medical marijuana was also criticized for being
too high in contaminants, such as lead and arsenic. Canadians for Safe
Access's spokesperson would not reveal the lab that conducted the tests.

Zettl disputes these claims, saying the potency of the blend delivered
by Prairie Plant Systems was independently verified by three licensed
labs.

"These reports are based on unsubstantiated information and unlicensed
labs and there is clearly another agenda at hand," Zettl said.

"The reality is that for these individuals the (Health Canada)
material is coming in at half the price of what they're paying on the
street," Zettl said.

He believes the Web site authors "feel threatened that this (Health
Canada) stuff is showing up as a competitive product," he said. "They
worry that it's going to put them out of business."

Zettl said his firm can grow and blend pot to any potency required by
Health Canada.

He also said the marijuana Prairie Plant distributed to Health Canada
exceeded every requirement in the government contract, including trace
metal content.

The Health Canada pot sells for $150 for 30 grams and street prices
can be twice that high, he said.

Health Canada began distributing the Flin Flon-grown pot in response
to an Ontario court case which stated the government must make the pot
available to patients. Ottawa originally intended that only
researchers get the first batch of pot grown in the Flin Flon mine.

In the United States, the National Institute of Drug Abuse was only
providing its seven patients with five per cent THC pot, Zettl notes.

He conceded that medical marijuana users may not be used to getting
their weed in a ground-up form.

"This is a first generation, but we'd like to see feedback from the
patients," Zettl said.