SUPPLIERS FEEL FRUSTRATED BY MARIJUANA REGULATIONS

The federal government's tender call for a supply of marijuana is so
bound up with requirements that only tobacco companies need apply, say
would be Victoria bidders, "In order to do a lot of the things they
are asking, you would need to be in the tobacco industry", said Sean
Copeman. "The government has made it impossible for almost anybody
else."

Health Canada announced in May it was seeking bidders on a five year
supply, multi-million contract to supply marijuana. The product will
be used for research and to supply the 44 Canadians who have been
given permission to smoke marijuana for medical purposes.

By Friday the tender has attracted 231 expressions of interest and the
deadline moved up from June to June 14. Expressions have come in from
as far away as the U.K. and New Mexico.

But interest appears to be strongest in B.C. A partial list, valid to
last week , contained 195 names, and 44 were from B.C.. Quebec was
second with 43 and Ontario third with 42. Fifteen names were from
people on Vancouver Island and eight people from Victoria expressed
interest in bidding on the contract.

The contract calls for the production of 100,00 uniform sized
marijuana cigarettes and 85 kilograms of bulk marijuana in the first
year. That jumps to 200,000 cigarettes and 200 kilograms in the
second year and on.

But the successful bidders must also be able to standardize the
marijuana's level of the stoner compound, tetrahydocannabinol (THC).
They must also have a university educated scientist in charge, and not
have any criminal record.

The marijuana must be packaged, clearly labelled and distributed,
securely, across the country. The grow operation, whether inside or
out must also have top notch security, right down to serveillance
video cameras feeding the images to a separate and secure location.

Would-be bidder Copeman is a carpenter who thought he saw an
opportunity when he first read of the tender.

But after sending $65 for the federal government and receiving several
hundred pages, in French and English, detailing what was required,
Copeman said he figured he was out of his league. "In the end this is
just a waste of taxpayers money, it's what this is", said Copeman.
"The would be better off getting a group of prisoners, who know how to
grow it and put it in a jailhouse and let them do it," he said.

Michael Swallow, a UVIC graduate student in botany, also said he
thought he saw an opprtunity.After talking it over with a few other
graduate students who also expressed an interest in going in with him,
Swallow sent for the package. But Swallow said he was also floored by
the stringent red tape and requirements for manufacturing and
distribution.

The deadline for delivery makes it near impossible for anyone but a
large, rich operation with huge resources, he said.

The biology of the plant and the requirements that the plants be grown
from seed mean an indoor, hydroponic grow operation would have to be
huge, at the very least warehouse sized.

Even an outdoor operation would require acres and acres that would be
hugely expensive to enclose with security fences.

"Somebody can do this but it's going to be corporate Canada not little
John Q. Grower", said Swallow.

Government officials basically refused to comment on the observations
about requirements in the call for proposals.

Fran Gershberg, spokeswoman for Public Works and Government Services
Canada, the agency handling the tender, said the requirements all come
from Health Canada. Public Works is just doing what was asked.

Roslyn Tremblay, spokeswoman for Health Canada, said she cannot
comment on the contract requirements because it might affect the
bidding process.