YES, HE WANTS TO GO TO POT

Dartmouth man sure his hydroponic company equipped to provide
government with marijuana.

David Dunphy wants to be the federal government's east coast pot
connection. Dunphy's hydroponic gardening company, Green Wonder
Gardening Inc., a hydroponic growing supply company and grower of
cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, is one of eight Nova Scotian firms
and individuals interested in supplying Health Canada with high-grade,
primo medicinal marijuana over the next five years. It's a venture
that Dunphy is eager to get rolling.

"One might consider it to be pioneering," said Dunphy. "To be the
first legal hydroponic growing operation is maybe exactly why I'm
doing it. It isn't for the money."

Health Canada issued the tender earlier this year for a source of
standardized, affordable and high-quality marijuana to supply people
who have medical permission to smoke weed, and to gather scientific
information on safety and effectiveness. In the first year, the
contract calls for 100,000 rolled cigarettes and 1,000 kilograms of
bulk marijuana.

In the second year, supply will double and there is talk of doubling
demand in years four and five of the contract.The contract will pay $5
million over five years to the successful bidder. Dunphy is sure his
firm will win.

He said his firm has the expertise and equipment to grow pot and roll
pot. The scientists required by the government to monitor the active
ingredients in the marijuana are already on staff and he's even sure
that some of the hydroponic equipment he sells has already been field
tested. "I suspect people who grow pot were our major customers,"
said Dunphy. "Now we mostly sell to schools and institutions."

Across Canada, about 195 firms and individuals have made inquiries
about the tender, to be determined later this month. For some, the
stakes were just a tad too rich to enter the marijuana-growing field.

James Shaw, a Kingston, Kings Co., electrician-cum-entrepreneur,
thought about growing pot hydroponically in an insulated steel
warehouse in his hometown, but decided his front-end risk was too
great. He even contacted his local RCMP detachment to figure out how
much pot sells for, to weigh out whether offering a tender was worthwhile.

"I'd consider it again though," said the 46-year-old Valley man.
"Maybe if it was a cottage-type industry."

Patrick Austin is a 22-year-old farmer in Whycocomagh, Inverness Co.,
who wanted to devote part of his family cattle farm to growing pot. He
said marijuana, and its cousin hemp, could be valuable cash crops some
day. "It would be something I would consider getting into," he said.