GETTING PAST POT

'Isn't About Fun, It's About Function'

Sara Lee Irwin smokes pot to help her cope with her bone cancer and
is waiting for the day when there are alternative therapeutic
marijuana options so she doesn't have to light-up to help with the
pain and severe nausea.

Mainstream drugs used to manage Irwin's pain had several side effects
so she needs marijuana, but would prefer not to smoke.

"I'm a working mother and walk with a cane. (Marijuana) has improved
my life," said Irwin, a federally licensed medical marijuana patient.
"This isn't about fun, it's about function."

Enter Moses Znaimer, chairman of Cannasat Therapeutics and former City TV guru.

For the last two years, his local drug company has raised $6.5
million to work on alternative marijuana delivery methods to relieve
pain without smoking.

"We are researching ways to get it into the blood system in a more
elegant fashion than smoking. We believe these new medicines will
have significant potential," Znaimer said.

"Cannasat is a pioneering effort into the therapeutic applications of
marijuana. The time has come to let Canadians know that Canada is at
the forefront of research into cannabis and access to the medicines
derived from it."

There is currently a marijuana pill, but it can take up to two hours
to get into a patient's system.

Znaimer said pharmaceuticals use poppies -- which can produce opium
- -- to make drugs like codeine and it's time to drop the marijuana taboo.

Canada is one of three countries that legally grow medical marijuana,
said Alan Young, a law professor at the University of Toronto.

"Sick people can gain vibrancy and quality of life (with medical
marijuana)," Young said.

It is expected to be five years before any new therapeutic marijuana
options hit the market.

Cannasat holds a minority stake in Prairie Plant Systems, the
country's only legal medical marijuana grower and distributor, which
operates under the auspices of Health Canada.

The company is also launching an education campaign to tell Canadians
who suffer from diseases, including Multiple Sclerosis, HIV-AIDS and
arthritis, that they may qualify for medical marijuana.