FEDERAL HEALTH MINISTER ALLAN ROCK TOURS MANITOBA MEDICINAL POT MINE

FLIN FLON, Man. (CP) - Like a proud farmer admiring a bumper crop, Health
Minister Allan Rock was all smiles Thursday as he went deep underground to
tour Canada's only legal marijuana growing operation.

Riding on a special vehicle, Rock and his entourage snaked down through the
dark silence of an old copper mine shaft for 15 minutes to a bustling
hydroponic lab carved out of the rock hundreds of metres below the surface.

There, under tight security and beneath the blinding glare of powerful grow
lights, a forest of vibrant green plants burst from containers, filling the
chamber with a musky sweetness.

"It's an incredible experience to see this operation," Rock said as he
watched expert growers baby the plants that will provide the roots of
Canada's new medicinal marijuana policy.

"It's obvious that we have good growth. I'm quite impressed."

Soon staff at the remote site 650 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg will
begin harvesting the bedrock buds for tests that will determine their
potency and other chemical properties.

After some clinical trials, the marijuana will be made available as early
as February to the terminally ill and people suffering from serious
diseases who want to use it as a pain reliever - if they qualify.

Canada's new medicinal marijuana policy, which came into effect on Monday,
allows people who have been granted an exemption from narcotics laws to
possess pot and grow it or have someone grow it for them.

So far less than 300 people have been approved with another 500
applications pending.

Critics claim the exemption policy is too restrictive, that the mine won't
produce enough pot to meet demand and that the pot won't be strong enough
to deaden the pain of people suffering from AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

Others say the subterranean grow operation, run under contract by Prairie
Plant Systems of Saskatoon, is a $5.7-million absurdity when most Canadians
can easily obtain pot in their own communities.

The mine has brought international headlines and prompted some groups to
hold Canada's policy up as an example of compassion that other governments
should follow.

In the United States, where a person can be sent to jail for as much as a
year for possession of a joint and five years for growing a plant,
pro-marijuana lobby groups publicly praised Ottawa.

"The Canadian government is permitting medical use, cultivation and
distribution," said Chuck Thomas, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy
Project in Washington D.C.

"It is a shame the United States government is falling so far behind the
curve. The U.S. government gives patients two options: suffer or go to jail."

People in Flin Flon don't quite know what to make of all the attention
their community of 7,000 is getting, or of the hot-selling T-shirts that
proclaim it as the marijuana growing capital of Canada.

For 75 years their fortunes have been dictated by the fluctuating price of
ore processed by the huge zinc-copper mine now operated by the Hudson Bay
Mining and Smelting Company.

Mayor Dennis Ballard said so far the marijuana mine has only created about
a dozen jobs and most of the profits will flow out of the area. But he is
convinced that could all change if the project is successful.

"It could be a godsend. It is the potential down the line that really
impresses me," he said. "The size of the chamber they are operating in
means they can expand by 10 times."

Still, some longtime Flin Flon residents scoff at the idea that there is
much of a future in underground marijuana growing.

Gordon Wells and his pal Rod Rutherford chuckled over their coffee at
Johnny's Confectionary when asked if the pot mine will help Flin Flon.

"It's just a big fuss over nothing," Wells said. "Everybody just laughs
about it."

Rutherford, who worked at the copper mine for 30 years before retiring,
frowned and pointed out the window toward the massive Hudson Bay smelter
smokestack that looms over the town.

"It is just an experiment," he said. "The future of this town is that stack."

A chronology on the development of Canada's only legal marijuana growing
operating in Flin Flon, Man.:

July 2000: - Ontario Court of Appeal upholds lower court decision striking
down prohibition on possessing marijuana in case of Terrence Parker, an
epileptic who used the drug for pain relief.

December 2000 - Federal government awards Prairie Plant Systems Inc. of
Saskatoon a five-year, $5.7 million contract to provide Health Canada with
a reliable source of standardized marijuana to meet medical and research
needs. Plants to be grown in an old copper mine in Flin Flon, Man.

July 30, 2001 - Marijuana Medical Access Regulations come into force. They
establish a framework to allow the use of marijuana by people who are
suffering from serious illnesses.

To come:

August 2001 - Mine staff to begin harvesting the first batch of marijuana
plants grown in a hydroponic lab in the mine. Most of the initial batch
will be used for testing to establish potency guidelines for the drug.

February 2002 - Patients who have received exemptions under Section 56 of
the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to receive first supply of
marijuana from mine. The drug will be available in pre-rolled joints and in
loose form for those who prefer to ingest it in tea or in food.