MARIJUANA CROP LIGHTS UP MANITOBA GROWERS' EYES

Scramble On To Supply High-Grade Drug For Medicinal Trials

Manitobans are lining up to grow high-grade pot for Health Minister
Allan Rock.

As of noon Friday, nearly 90 different companies and individuals
across Canada, including 10 from Manitoba, had requested information
from Ottawa on its clinical trials of marijuana to determine its
medicinal value.

John Skuba thinks becoming the federal marijuana supplier could be a
good expansion of his alfalfa farm in Fisher Branch.

"I'm a farmer and I thought the money could be good," he
said.

But Skuba isn't sure if he will be able to compete with big
greenhouses around the country, or even be allowed to apply because of
strict rules laid down by Ottawa.

The health minister -- who asked for submissions last week -- intends
the cannabis contract to be for up to a five-year term. It involves
setting up a marijuana factory to grow, process and store marijuana
for use in medical trials.

Skuba isn't sure he will be able to put together an operation big
enough to do all of that, but he knows he could produce good marijuana.

"It's pretty elaborate, but I know how to grow things," he
said.

Patrick Romeo, marketing and business development representative for
Websar Laboratories in Ste. Anne, said Rock's marijuana request caught
his company's attention. Websar is an analytical lab specializing in
environmental assessments.

Romeo said growing marijuana may be a good option for business growth,
but they haven't determined whether it's possible yet.

"There are so many regulations, we have to look at whether we can
justify even taking it on," Romeo said.

Shaun Crew, president of a hemp food production company in St.
Norbert, said his company's experience with growing hemp, a form of
cannabis with very low levels of the stimulant, THC, would make them
ideal candidates for the contract.

"We have a lot of the required resources to grow medicinal marijuana
and I think we'd do a good job at it," Crew said. "It's somewhat
parallel to what we've been doing with hemp."

The federal government intends to review the applications after the
June 6 submission date, and to have a contract in place sometime this
summer.

There has been inconclusive evidence that marijuana can help suppress
nausea and stimulate appetite in AIDS and cancer patients, relieve
muscle pain and spasms in people with multiple sclerosis and reduce
the frequency of epileptic seizures. Recently, many Canadians have
pressured the federal government to legalize marijuana for medicinal
use.

Other interested growers include farmers, greenhouse operations hemp
farmers and experts in alternative medicine from Prince Edward Island
to North Vancouver.

The McGill University Health Centre in Montreal has also submitted its
name, as had something called Holy Smoke in British Columbia.
Potential growers from California and Massachusetts have also
submitted their names.