Official Pot's Not Bad, It's Too Potent, Grower Says

Canada

Prairie Plant Mad About Health Canada Damaging Its Reputation

OTTAWA -- The company that grows Canada's official marijuana supply says the weed has turned out to be too potent.

The marijuana is not bad -- the problem is that it is too good, Prairie Plant Systems said in a letter Wednesday to Health Minister Anne McLellan.

Company president Brent Zettl is mad about the company's "damaged reputation" arising from McLellan's revelations that the project to give pot to sick Canadians is delayed because the supply is impure.

"Prairie Plant has respected the Health Canada request to not speak to the media regarding this project," wrote Zettl.

"We request that Health Canada respond to these false reports in order to maintain the integrity of the project and begin repairing the damage these negative reports have created," he wrote.

McLellan said last week that the distribution of marijuana for medicinal purposes is behind schedule because the first crop of nearly 2,000 plants contains 185 different kinds of pot.

The seeds came from marijuana seized by police after the National Institute of Drug Abuse in the U.S. refused to share seeds it cultivates for scientific research.

"As you are aware, this project has been fraught with many unforeseen logistical issues," wrote Zettl.

"Most interestingly, virtually all the strains we have tested appear to be better in quality than the U.S. NIDA material. In most cases, the strains under development have significantly higher cannabinoids levels."

THC ( tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the most critical chemical in marijuana ) is commonly two times greater in concentration than the U.S. stuff, Zettl said.

The government gave a $5.7-million contract to Prairie Plant Systems to grow the marijuana at a mine in Flin Flon, Man.

In his letter, Zettl asked for the contract to be amended so that Health Canada can receive the stronger-than-expected pot.

Andrew Swift, a spokesman for Health Canada, said the department wants to test the stronger marijuana before deciding whether it will change the contract to buy more potent pot.

The current contract calls for THC levels of five-to-six per cent, he said. Zettl says a concentration of 9.5-11 per cent would be "more appropriate for clinical research material."

The government is now having its pot tested to find the best strain so that a quality, standardized seed can be used for the second crop of plants.

McLellan has said the government has an obligation to ensure that the marijuana it provides people is of a consistent quality. Without a standardized crop, she said, researchers monitoring the patients would have no way of knowing whether marijuana is having the desired effects.

Until then, sick Canadians who were approved to smoke marijuana and were counting on the official supply will have to wait.