Pubdate: Sat, 21 Oct 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2006 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Murray Lyons, The StarPhoenix

MEDICAL POT DEMAND GROWS

Local Firm Signs Contract Extension With Gov't

The federal Conservative government may have slashed research funding 
into medical marijuana earlier this month, but Prairie Plant Systems 
Inc., the Saskatoon company that has the contract to grow pot for 
approved medical users, has not been affected.

In fact, company president Brent Zettl says a one-year extension of 
the contract to grow the marijuana at a secure underground growth 
chamber located in a Flin Flon mine was signed Oct. 1. The contract 
calls for a doubling of the volume for the coming year and more 
revenue for his company.

"At this stage of the game we're supplying about 300 to 325 people on 
a monthly basis who have an exemption for medicinal purposes who have 
a medical condition that grants them that exemption." The number of 
patients gaining that exemption is growing, so the legal medical 
marijuana program is now close to running out of supply, he said.

"We're shipping out somewhere between 32 and 35 kilograms a month and 
we currently produce about 20," he said.

Zettl says the one-year extension of the federal contract will 
provide revenues of $2.1 million to Prairie Plant Systems compared to 
an original base contract of $1.1 million.

"From our standpoint, it's also a signal to the rest of the country 
that the product is being accepted and it is being taken up by 
patients who find it beneficial," he said. "It's a statement."

In the first year of the contract, some of the pot produced had a 
much higher tetrahydrocannibol (THC) level than the federal program 
wanted, because Prairie Plant's original seed source was pot seized 
by police. However, Zettl said his company is now consistently 
producing marijuana to meet contract requirements with a THC level of 
12.5 per cent (plus or minus 1.5 per cent).

"In our case, it has to meet the quality control test," he said.

In an interview at the opening ceremonies of the new head office and 
laboratory building for Prairie Plant, located off Highway 16 about 
three kilometres east of Boychuk Drive, Zettl said the contract to 
grow medical marijuana has raised his company's profile and been 
successful in giving his firm a "segue into the plant-made 
pharmaceutical industry as a whole."
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MAP posted-by: Elaine