LIBERALS OUT TO HIRE MARIJUANA MERCHANT

Government Releases Terms Of 5-Year Contract

Attention all marijuana growers: Allan Rock wants your
supply.

Yesterday, the federal government released the terms of a five-year
contract it plans to give a Canadian supplier of marijuana by summer.

Whoever gets the tendered contract will have to provide high-quality
dope, and security will be tight. Also, anyone who has run afoul of
drug laws in the past 15 years won't be permitted to hold a key job in
the project.

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

Mr. Rock's Health Department isn't yet convinced of the merits of
those claims. While it has granted exemptions to 37 sick people so
they can smoke marijuana without fear of criminal prosecution, it
doesn't want to issue a blanket exemption until the scientific proof
is clear.

After he announced plans last year to proceed with clinical trials, it
became clear that Mr. Rock preferred a domestic marijuana supplier for
the project, instead of having to rely on government-sanctioned
growers in the U.S.

A confidential government document leaked last December, which laid
out the business framework for the project, revealed that Health
Canada plans to distribute nearly one million marijuana cigarettes
over the five-year trials to ailing Canadians and researchers.

The request for proposals released yesterday outlines strict
regulations the successful bidder must follow:

- -The contractor will have to "produce a reliable source of affordable,
quality, standardized marijuana products."

- -The contractor will have to grow, process and store the marijuana
plants, as well as manufacture the marijuana cigarettes and distribute
them to "recipients authorized by Health Canada."

- -For the purposes of security clearance, "the project manager, KEY
personnel, and qualified person in charge" must not have any record
since 1985 of any offences against a whole host of drug laws -- either
in Canada or in any other country in which they lived after they turned 18.

- -The first stocks of marijuana must be ready within one year of the
contract being issued.

Bidders must respond by June 6.