CURB-SIDE CHATS

Our staff was surprised this week when they went out to do "streeters"
- - quick, on-the-street interviews with local citizens - to find out
how people feel about the possibility of a medicinal marijuana
industry being set up right here in Grand Forks.

It turns out that the vast majority of the handful of people
interviewed were heartily in favor of the prospect, and weren't afraid
to say so to the camera, or to put their name to their comments.

A couple of shy residents, however, said they weren't interested in
speaking on the record and scuttled away, while one older woman said
she was against marijuana of all types, but didn't want to give her
name or have her picture taken. Another gruff soul, this time a
middle-aged man, said he didn't care either way and went on his way.

One young woman included in our page 3 story smiled and said that
becoming the "marijuana capital of Canada" would certainly put Grand
Forks on the map. It turns out that even the prospect of it has done
a fair bit to raise awareness about our community.

Some of the TV coverage went national, and the CBC Radio program As it
Happens is not only broadcast across Canada but in the U.S. and abroad
through the short-wave network.

We at the paper contemplated how much coverage to give the story.
What's old-hat to a lot of Boundary residents ('oh no, not another
article on marijuana') is new and interesting to people who haven't
heard the story.

In the end, we decided to try to get some idea of what local opinion
is. Although far from scientific, our micro-poll showed at least that
there is a high degree of understanding of, interest in and openness
to the idea of medical marijuana in this community.

As the story continues to unfurl - Brian Taylor and his co-op have
already been given the go-ahead to bid on the opportunity to provide
medical marijuana to U.S. researchers - we will keep you updated. We
will also try to estabilish a line of communication with Health Canada
and Minister Allan Rock so that Grand Forks residents may be among the
first to get any information that could affect our community and its
economy.