Pubdate: Mon, 23 Dec 2013
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Linda Nguyen
Page: A5

MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS FEAR PRICES ARE ABOUT TO SOAR

Mark Gobuty isn't raising cattle or cultivating corn on his farm north
of Toronto - he's growing medical marijuana.

His company, The Peace Naturals Project, is one of the first to be
approved by Health Canada to commercially produce and distribute dried
cannabis ahead of changes next spring to Ottawa's medical marijuana
access program.

Starting April 1, the program that began in 2001 will no longer
require medicinal users to buy through Ottawa's one approved supplier,
grow their own or designate someone to be their personal grower.
Instead, users will be restricted to buying from a list of approved
suppliers.

Mr. Gobuty, chief executive and co-founder Peace Naturals, says his
company is focused on providing a quality product, but he also
understands the compassionate side of drug dispensing.

"We certainly have vision. We want to help people," Mr. Gobuty said at
his secluded and highly secured farm. "If we can do one thing, we want
to provide people with peace."

But that peace will come at a price, and some prescription marijuana
users, such as Marcel Gignac of Amherst, N.S., worry that privatizing
the medical cannabis industry will come at too high a cost.

Mr. Gignac's supplier is a designated grower, but his wife, who also
uses the herb to ease the pain from arthritis, knee and hip
replacements, grows her own plants. He estimates she pays about five
cents a gram.

He said he and other members from the volunteer-run Medicinal Cannabis
Patients' Alliance of Canada, some of whom are unable to work due to
their conditions, will not be able to afford market prices.

"I can sit back and suffer and die, or grow it illegally or go to
jail," said Mr. Gignac, 51, who smokes 30 grams a day to treat an
aggressive form of multiple sclerosis.

Officials say the changes aim to provide users with more choice, offer
a standardized quality and lessen security risks for users who grow
their own. Ottawa expects the industry to grow to $1.3-billion in
sales by 2024.

Health Canada estimates that consumers pay between $1.80 to $5 per
gram of dried marijuana, with the price under the new program to rise
to about $7.60 in 2014. Peace Naturals charges $6 a gram and offers a
50-per-cent discount, up to a set amount, for those on disability
allowance or social assistance.

More than 37,000 Canadians are authorized to posses marijuana for
medicinal purposes, such as minimizing the effects from a variety of
ailments ranging from cancer to spinal cord injury to
attention-deficit disorder. That figure is expected to swell to
450,000 in 10 years. About 25,000 now grow their own plants for
personal use.

Under the new rules, users will no longer have to apply for a
possession licence through Health Canada but, instead, be approved
with a doctor's prescription. As of the end of November, Health Canada
said it had received 285 applications for commercial production
licences and approved three suppliers. It does not have a cap on how
many commercial licences it will ultimately grant.

Paul Grootendorst, the director of social and administrative pharmacy
at the University of Toronto, expects prices to rise in the short term
but, as more suppliers are approved, the competition will likely
benefit the consumer.

"It's economics 101. If the money is very lucrative, more companies
will enter, expand the supply, and that will lower prices," said Mr.
Grootendorst.
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MAP posted-by: Matt