DO YOU NEED A DEGREE TO GROW MARIJUANA?

Ottawa says yes, to the chagrin of farmers hoping for piece of the pot pie

Alberta farmers produce some of the finest wheat and barley in the world
but may lack what it takes to be the official federal marijuana suppliers.

Health Canada wants the marijuana for medicinal uses. So when it put out a
call for bids on a five-year supply contract, the entrepreneurial farmers
saw an opportunity to diversify.

"We thought this was something to look into," said Kerry Werezak, who with
her husband Orest, own a 160-acre former pig farm near Daysland, east of
Edmonton.

"So we phoned Ottawa to see what the qualifications were and we told them
then we were just plain, ordinary farmers," she said. "We had to pay them
about $70 to send the (information) package out, but from the first page we
knew we didn't qualify."

The Werezaks found, for example, they need a university science degree and
must learn French. Bilingualism is a contract stipulation.

"I want my money back," Werezak said. "I'm going to send a letter to that
(Allan) Rock guy -- I think he's the health minister -- and ask for my 70
bucks back."

Until recently, the Werezaks raised 1,000 feeder pigs a year. Then the
bottom fell out of the hog market. So they have plenty of empty barn space
that they figured would be perfect for a marijuana-growing operation.

Greg Johnston from Alberta Beach sent for a package of information after he
quit turkey farming.

"I've got some big empty buildings that I thought would be suitable for
growing something like that," Johnston said. "But when I got their
proposal, I saw you needed all these degrees and what-not so I couldn't see
how I could apply for it.

"I don't know why they just didn't tell us straight out, before we asked
for the proposal, that it's not for farmers," Johnston said. "It's for drug
companies or something like that."

The Health Department has so far received about 195 requests for the
information package. The contract, estimated to be worth about $5 million,
requires the successful bidder to produce 100,000 "standardized" marijuana
cigarettes and 100 kilograms of "raw bulk" marijuana in the first year.

The marijuana is for clinical research trials to gather evidence on whether
it's safe and effective for patients to smoke for medicinal purposes.

Other would-be dope growers include McGill and Guelph universities, the
giant Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, British Columbia's
Ministry of Forestry, Saskatchewan Health, the Health Point Pain and Injury
Clinic of Winnipeg, Sensemilla Acres of Blaine Lake, Sask., Holy Smoke of
Hope, B.C., and Just Say Grow Ltd. of Richmond, B.C.

One Alberta company that plans to seriously compete for the contract is
Natural Farmworks Ltd. of Red Deer. Owner Brad McNish has a science degree
from the University of Alberta and is a former Calgary police officer. His
company uses hydroponics to grow plants from which mineral nutrients are
extracted for animal feed and for supplements for humans.

"This fits in very well with our company's core expertise," McNish said.
"But I was also a police officer for 15 years and spent a lot of time
prosecuting people for the hydroponic growing of marijuana. From that I
learned a lot that can be applied to this project."

McNish said he's assembling a team, including former police lab scientists,
to make a bid. The proposals must be in by June 6.