WEST COAST HOPES TO CASH IN ON POT GROWING EXPERTISE

(CP) - Organic growers from Vancouver Island hope to bag the new
federal contract to grow and distribute medical marijuana across
Canada with the promise of supplying better, cheaper and different
varieties of weed.

Public Works Canada has extended the deadline for bids on the
contract currently held by Prairie Plant Systems Inc., which operates
a grow operation deep within a mine in northern Manitoba.

No reason for the extension has been given. Companies hoping to win
the contract are waiting for more information to complete their bids
by the new Sept. 29 deadline.

Eric Nash, co-owner of Island Harvest in British Columbia, said he is
eager to submit a proposal to supply high-grade strains of sativa and
indica marijuana to registered users, some of whom have been unhappy
with the quality of the current crop of government-approved pot.

"We want this contract because we know that we can supply a
good-quality organic product to patients," said Nash, who has been
legally supplying medicinal pot to a few registered users from his
provincially-inspected organic operation in the Cowichan Valley.