Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jan 2013
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Jeff Lee

OLYMPIAN ROSS REBAGLIATI SEES GOLD IN FUTURE OF MEDICAL POT

Snowboarder Plans To Open Marijuana Dispensary In Whistler

Ross Rebagliati, the Olympic gold medallist, plans to open up a
franchise of medical marijuana shops that trade on his fame.

Saying he had tried for 15 years to leave behind the badboy reputation
that had been visited upon him by his infamous run-in with the
International Olympic Committee - they tried to take away his gold
medal from the 1998 Nagano Winter Games for testing positive for
marijuana - Rebagliati plans to go fully into the potdispensing
business. Legally.

Cheekily called Ross' Gold - a play both on his gold medal and names
for types of marijuana - the company expects to set up a flagship
store in Whistler this spring once the federal government privatizes
the medical marijuana production industry. At first it will offer a
storefront coffee shop with an age-restricted marijuana paraphernalia
shop behind, and ultimately a doctor's office and dispensary.

Rebagliati said Wednesday he'd never wanted his name to be associated
with marijuana when he shot to fame by winning the first gold when the
IOC opened the Olympics to snowboarding. He had hoped to be a role
model for sport, while earning a good life from corporate
sponsorships.

But that positive test, which was eventually found to be the result of
second-hand smoke he inhaled at a pre- Olympics party, cast his fate
in a different direction. He got his gold medal back, but lost the
sponsorships and his name became synonymous with drugs in sport. "It
is the hand I was dealt 15 years ago. I can't get away from it," he
said. "So I decided if you can't beat ' em, you gotta join ' em."

Rebagliati projects his business will be doing more than $ 50 million
a year after the third year, once it opens satellite stores in
Vancouver and Toronto.

Rebagliati laid out the argument for Ross' Gold in a report published
on a related company website. He said he expects the company, also
known as Rebagliati Gold Ltd., will seek listing on the Canadian
National Stock Exchange. Rebagliati said he is aware of Vancouver's
reputation for being a home to questionable stock deals, but is
working with professionals to make sure Ross' Gold has a good reputation.

"We've got some good backing and some great people on our team who are
making this all come together," he told The Vancouver Sun.

Among those is Patrick Smyth, of Ocean Eclipse Venture Capital, whose
company website indicates he's been involved in a large number of
stock exchange listed companies. He's a director of Rebagliati Gold.

Kenneth Lelek, of World Fund Corp., according to Rebagliati Gold's
statement, is also advising the company. In the 1990s Lelek was a
partner with Lloyd Robinson, a member of the Hells Angels' East End
chapter in Vancouver, in a number of ventures, including a porn and
gambling company called Starnet Communications International.

"There is going to be new federal laws coming into place and we are
going to follow them to a T. There is not going to be any grey area.
This is going to be 100- per-cent legal," Rebagliati said.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D