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 Canadian
Medical Association Journal
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Saskatoon firm wins country's first contract to cultivate medical marijuana
Besides its proven plant-producing prowess, the company recently awarded Health Canada's first-ever contract to produce marijuana offered a measure of security its competitors couldn't match. Prairie Plants Systems Inc. of Saskatoon will be growing the required ton of research-grade pot 360 m underground in a mine with only 1 entrance. The biotechnology firm, which beat out 34 competitors to win the 5-year, $5.75-million contract, has been growing pharmaceutical plants in an unused section of a mine at Flin Flon, Man., since 1990. The underground greenhouse, which is monitored and controlled by computer, has proven to accelerate plant growth. In addition to growing, drying and processing the plants, the company will also roll more than a million marijuana cigarettes. They will be used to conduct research into the drug's risks and benefits, and will be given away to Canadians who qualify, on medical grounds, for a legal exemption to possess marijuana; about 140 people are currently qualified. In return, says a Health Canada spokesperson, these people must provide the department with "information for research purposes." In September the federal government announced it was looking at changing existing laws governing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. — Greg Basky, Saskatoon
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