News (Media Awareness Project) - CN MB: Fed's Low-Grade Pot Plants Require Top-Level Security |
| Title: | CN MB: Fed's Low-Grade Pot Plants Require Top-Level Security |
| Published On: | 2001-07-30 |
| Source: | Province, The (CN BC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-31 23:15:29 |
FED'S LOW-GRADE POT PLANTS REQUIRE TOP-LEVEL SECURITY
FLIN FLON, Man. - Riddle me this.
What lives down a deep mineshaft beneath the cold waters of a northern
Manitoba lake, is bigger than three football fields and is under tighter
security than the Ebola virus yet produces something you can buy on any
street corner in Canada?
It's the first federal marijuana grow operation, which Health Minister
Allan Rock will inspect in Flin Flon, Man., this week.
The Cannabis Medical Access Project was set up to produce a supply of pot
under Ottawa's controversial medicinal marijuana policy.
Technicians will begin harvesting 185 kilograms of the underground weed
starting next month, said Health Canada spokesman Cindy Cripps-Prawak from
Ottawa.
By next February, selected patients suffering illnesses such as AIDS should
be able to light up federally tested pre-rolled joints to ease their pain.
Those who eschew smoking will be given loose marijuana.
"Some medical marijuana users wish to use it for tea or cook it into some
food product," she said. "Not everyone wants to smoke.
However, most of the initial batch will be used for research.
So far, 292 people have been approved to receive federal pot. More than 500
other applications are being processed and more applications are expected,
she said.
The federal government has given the Flin Flon operation a level-seven
security classification. That is three grades higher than the federal lab
in Winnipeg that handles lethal diseases such as the Ebola virus.
Canadian pot crusader Grant Krieger also scoffed at security at the mine,
especially in light of the medicinal strength of the pot it will produce.
The feds hope to produce marijuana with an active THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol) content of five to six per cent. Krieger said most
Canadians can buy much stronger pot in their own communities.
"No one is going to break into the mine for a six per cent plant," he said
from Calgary. "Just about anyone you bump into in the street sells pot with
a strength of about 15 to 18 per cent, maybe higher."
FLIN FLON, Man. - Riddle me this.
What lives down a deep mineshaft beneath the cold waters of a northern
Manitoba lake, is bigger than three football fields and is under tighter
security than the Ebola virus yet produces something you can buy on any
street corner in Canada?
It's the first federal marijuana grow operation, which Health Minister
Allan Rock will inspect in Flin Flon, Man., this week.
The Cannabis Medical Access Project was set up to produce a supply of pot
under Ottawa's controversial medicinal marijuana policy.
Technicians will begin harvesting 185 kilograms of the underground weed
starting next month, said Health Canada spokesman Cindy Cripps-Prawak from
Ottawa.
By next February, selected patients suffering illnesses such as AIDS should
be able to light up federally tested pre-rolled joints to ease their pain.
Those who eschew smoking will be given loose marijuana.
"Some medical marijuana users wish to use it for tea or cook it into some
food product," she said. "Not everyone wants to smoke.
However, most of the initial batch will be used for research.
So far, 292 people have been approved to receive federal pot. More than 500
other applications are being processed and more applications are expected,
she said.
The federal government has given the Flin Flon operation a level-seven
security classification. That is three grades higher than the federal lab
in Winnipeg that handles lethal diseases such as the Ebola virus.
Canadian pot crusader Grant Krieger also scoffed at security at the mine,
especially in light of the medicinal strength of the pot it will produce.
The feds hope to produce marijuana with an active THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol) content of five to six per cent. Krieger said most
Canadians can buy much stronger pot in their own communities.
"No one is going to break into the mine for a six per cent plant," he said
from Calgary. "Just about anyone you bump into in the street sells pot with
a strength of about 15 to 18 per cent, maybe higher."
Member Comments |
No member comments available...
