B.C. GROWER HOPES TO BE CANADA'S KING OF POT

TORONTO -- A licensed B.C. pot grower was in Toronto yesterday trying
to take a bite out of Health Canada's monopoly on medicinal marijuana.

Sam Mellace, 56, formerly of Toronto, is allowed to grow 292 plants,
which he does in a Miracle Valley, B.C. "industrial-style" operation
that yields about seven kilos of marijuana every four to six weeks.

Mellace is seeking permission to compete with Health Canada to grow
and distribute "high grade" pot to users across Canada with doctors'
prescriptions.

"I have the largest medical marijuana licence in Canada," Mellace said
of the 60 grams of pot he's legally entitled to daily. "I am hoping to
become Canada's first private-sector provider of medicinal marijuana."

Licensed to possess two kilos of pot "anywhere in Canada," his company
New Age Medical Solutions Inc. plans to open a chain of stores
providing pot-derived remedies, including biscuits, creams and cough
medicines.

Mellace has created a THC-free marijuana skin cream,
after-chemotherapy drink and a butter that is pending approval for
sale from Ottawa.

"We are trying to offer the government a proper dispensing method," he
said. "We want to give them some competition."