MARKUP ON MARIJUANA

OTTAWA - The federal government charges patients 15 times more for
certified medical marijuana than it pays to buy the weed in bulk from
its official supplier, newly released documents show.

Critics say it's unconscionable to charge that high a markup to some
of the country's sickest citizens, who have little income and are
often cut off from their medical marijuana supply when they can't pay
their government dope bills.

Records obtained under the Access to Information Act show that Health
Canada pays $328.75 for each kilogram of bulk medical marijuana
produced by Prairie Plant Systems Inc.

The company currently has a $10.3-million contract with Health
Canada, which expires at the end of September, to grow standardized
medical marijuana in an abandoned mine shaft in Flin Flon, Man.
Health Canada sells the marijuana to a small group of authorized
users for $150 - plus GST - for each 30-gram bag of ground-up
flowering tops. That works out to $5,000 for each kilogram, or a
markup of more than 1,500 per cent.