B.C. MARIJUANA GROWER OFFERS SUPPLIES TO HARD-UP FEDERAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT

British Columbia's leading cannabis grower says he will happily offer a
seed supply to the hard-pressed federal Health Department, which is still
doing without.

Mark Emery, proprietor of Vancouver-based Mark Emery Seeds, says it's
ludicrous that Canada's medical pot program should be held up by problems
finding seeds. "Why don't they just get them from me?" Emery asked in an
interview Tuesday. "I'm the most well-known seed seller in the world and
I'm right here in Vancouver and they can talk to me any time they want."

Emery said he was amazed by recent news reports that Prairie Plant Systems
of Saskatoon, selected by Ottawa to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes,
has been unable to obtain seeds.

The reports said U.S. authorities have been reluctant to clear exports of
seeds from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NAIDA).

"I couldn't believe it, I was just shocked when I saw it," said Emery. "I
have 450 varieties they can choose from."

Since 1997, about 210 seriously ill people have been exempted from Canada's
marijuana possession laws but they have not been provided a legal source of
supply.

Last July, the Ontario Court of Appeal gave the government a year to revise
the law to allow for medical use.

In April, the government released a new policy allowing marijuana to be
used by people with terminal illnesses or chronic diseases. Applicants
would have to prove there was no other acceptable treatment option. But
patients are getting frustrated with delays in obtaining a legal supply.

Emery he would provide seeds free of charge if they were to be used in a
medical program.

Roslyn Tremblay, a Health Department spokeswoman, declined to comment on
the status of negotiations with NAIDA but denied there's a problem.

"These things take time. They're talking about substances that have
absolutely zero legal status in the world. There's all sorts of laws and
policies that kick in.

"So you need export and import permits etcetera etcetera. It's just time,
that's all. I don't see a problem."

She wouldn't comment on Emery's offer of free seeds.

Officials at Prairie Plant Systems did not return repeated calls. The
company received a contract to grow medical pot in December.

Dana Larsen, editor of Vancouver's Cannabis Culture magazine, said the
federal government is in a catch 22.

"Trying to find someone who can provide an illegal product legally is very
difficult, so it just shows the hypocrisy of the efforts they're trying to
make."

Larsen said it would be a serious mistake to get seeds from NAIDA.

"This stuff produced at the University of Mississippi, where the American
government grows its medical marijuana supply, is the crappiest, swaggiest
pot I've seen in my life."

Larsen said he met one of the seven patients receiving marijuana from the
NAIDA program.

"She showed me the joints they give her, full of seeds and stock and crap,
it's mostly leaf. If they're going to be using that to give to medical
patients in Canada it will be even more of a travesty than we have right now.

"The pot that the U.S. government grows, I wouldn't buy it on the street."

The federal government should be getting potent marijuana from B.C. growers
whose products have become world famous, said Larsen.

Dan Lohendorf, a B.C. writer who covers marijuana issues, says the
government hopes to wrest control of the B.C. marijuana industry from the
people who built it.

"I think that it's really heinous. They can't even get seeds to grow."

Industry sales are unofficially estimated at $3 billion to $5 billion annually.

"We've got all the expertise we need out there," said Lohendorf. "We also
have excellent genetic seed stocks from fine commercial growers in British
Columbia who've been developing these strains."