FED GOV'T'S POT SKY-HIGH IN PRICE

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.

$328.75 Per Kilo

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, in turn, sells the marijuana to a small group of
authorized users for $150 - plus GST - for each 30-gram bag of
ground-up flowering tops, with a strength of up to 14% THC, the main
active ingredient.

That works out to $5,000 for each kilogram, or a markup of more than
1,500%.

Health Canada has become a reluctant marijuana supplier, forced into
the role by a series of court decisions that have accepted scientific
research indicating cannabis can relieve pain when other medications
fail.

The courts have also said patients should not be forced into the black
market to purchase their medicine.

Currently, 1,742 patients are authorized by Health Canada to possess
dried marijuana as a medication.

Of these, 1,040 are licensed to grow their own, and another 167 people
are licensed to grow marijuana for the exclusive use of licensed patients.

But patients can also order marijuana through Health Canada's official
supplier, Prairie Plant Systems, which typically delivers the product
by Purolator courier.

149 Patients in Arrears

Currently, 149 patients are officially in arrears - almost a third of
the 514 patients who order government-certified dope - collectively
owing Health Canada $143,611 in outstanding payments.

Many have been cut off from their supplies.

A spokesman for the department, Jason Bouzanis, said the quoted price
of $328.75 a kilogram for bulk marijuana does not include other Health
Canada costs.