Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jul 2003
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2003 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Shannon Montgomery

POT PLANT PRIMED TO MINE ITS WEED

Flin Flon Operation Grows It For Feds

A new policy announced Wednesday that allows ill people to buy medicinal 
marijuana from the federal government means a Manitoba-based laboratory 
will finally see its product being used.

Saskatchewan-based Prairie Plant Systems has grown the federal marijuana in 
an underground mine in Flin Flon since receiving a five-year, $5.75-million 
contract in 2000.

Brent Zettl, president of PPS, said he isn't sure how the new policy will 
affect his company. He found out about the policy the same day as the rest 
of the country, in a telephone call from Health Canada. He said PPS has not 
been given any instructions on how much marijuana will be needed or where 
it will be shipped.

"Health Canada will be giving us direction on where to send the material," 
he said. "We still don't know all the details about how all of this is 
going to be implemented practically."

Federal Health Minister Anne McLellan said Wednesday the federal government 
is only allowing the purchase of marijuana because a court order says it is 
illegal to do otherwise. She said the government would rather only allow 
the drug to be sold once its effectiveness is proven by clinical trials.

The government is appealing the court's decision, and McLellan has hinted 
sales may be stopped if the government wins the appeal. "For us it's a 
welcome step, despite the minister's comments," Zettl said.

He said PPS isn't interested in growing marijuana long-term, but rather 
sees it as a stepping stone to growing plants that will be used to make 
antibiotics and cancer treatments in the underground environment.

"When we started this program, we saw it as a good business opportunity as 
it leads to other plant-based pharmaceuticals," he said. "Really, we're 
using the marijuana as proof of concept."

He said that until the product is given to patients, this concept cannot be 
evaluated.

"We really want to see this in the hands of patients... ," he said. 
"Stopping short of that is like finishing a song without singing the last 
few bars."

There have been suggestions in the past that Prairie Plant Services has had 
difficulties maintaining the quality of the marijuana they grow, but Zettl 
said PPS now has a consistent plant. "The product is now standardized," he 
said. "We're producing it from cloned material."

PPS is still trying to create an acceptable placebo to be used in clinical 
trials. The marijuana PPS grows has a 10 per cent THC content, which is the 
active medicinal ingredient. The government is requesting that the placebo 
plant have a 0.1 per cent THC content.

Zettl said PPS has made leaps forward in this research and should be able 
to provide a placebo by the time the federal government is ready to begin 
clinical trials.

It isn't known when PPS marijuana will be in the hands of patients, but 
Zettl said the company is ready to fill any order from Health Canada.

"We have a significant amount of material. And if Health Canada gives us a 
directive, we'll fulfill it at this point," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens