Pubdate: Mon, 07 Apr 2003
Source: Record, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.royalcityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1654
Author: Lori Pappajohn
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

POT FACTORY COULD BE TRANSPLANTED

If a federally licensed marijuana growing operation is located in the city, 
where is the best place for it?

That was one of the questions discussed last Wednesday by Yoram Adler, 
deputy director of The Merlin Project with the B.C. Marijuana Factory, when 
he met with the city's senior planning analyst, Jim Hurst.

The company has been growing marijuana legally for medicinal purposes in a 
residential neighbourhood in Queensborough. The company requested a meeting 
with the city to discuss alternative locations for their factories "for the 
sake of greater co-operation with the municipality."

Hurst said that, at the meeting, the two parties discussed locations for 
the grow operation.

"In general categories, where would you like to see this happen?" he asked.

If people prefer not to have the growing operation in a residential area, 
would it be more suited in an industrial area? he asked.

Hurst said he has had a number of calls from residents asking about the 
growing operation being in a residential area. They were calls of inquiry, 
much like the calls of inquiry the city received when Monarch Place, a 
house for women and children fleeing violence, opened in a residential area.

"People know it's in their community and they want to know more about it."

For their part, Adler says his company wants to co-operate with the city, 
although the city doesn't have jurisdiction over the growing operation, 
which is licensed by the federal government.

"We don't mind moving at all," said Adler. "We asked the city to enter into 
these discussions."

While legal medicinal marijuana grow operations are present in other 
Canadian cities, neither Hurst nor Keith Coueffin, the city's assistant 
director of strategic services, had investigated how these cities dealt 
with the operations.

The marijuana is being grown for people who use it legally for medicinal 
purposes. Adler guesses that between 63 and 84 patients in New Westminster 
and Burnaby make use of the marijuana his factory grows.

Medicinally, the plant is used for numerous applications, including chronic 
pain control, nausea control and for gaining back appetite for people with 
HIV or cancer.

There are a number of medical research programs throughout the world 
focusing on medicinal marijuana use, including at McGill University in 
Montreal, St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and G.W. Pharmaceuticals in 
England. The latter has a clinical trial with 350 multiple sclerosis patients.

The Dutch have approved pharmacies to dispense the plant with a doctors' 
prescription, said Adler.

In Canada, the federal government has approved more than 800 licences for 
people to grow marijuana for personal medicinal use, as a personal-use 
producer or as a designated grower, said Adler.

The B.C. Marijuana Factory has 60 plants growing. Its licence allows for 110.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager