Pubdate: Fri, 27 Dec 2013 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: Linda Nguyen COMMERCIAL MARIJUANA: TOO PRICEY? SOME USERS worry that privatizing Canada's medical cannabis industry will come at too high a cost 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 before changes next spring to Ottawa's marijuana medical access program. Starting April 1, the program that began in 2001 will no longer require medicinal marijuana users to buy their medication through Ottawa's one approved supplier, grow their own plants or designate someone to be their personal grower. Instead, users will be restricted to buying their cannabis from a list of approved suppliers. Gobuty, Peace Naturals' chief executive and co-founder, 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," said Gobuty during an interview at his secluded and highly secured farm in Clearview Township. "It's really (about) the purpose and intent of the medicine we can provide. If we can do one thing, we want to provide people with peace." But that peace will come at a price. And some prescribed users, such as Marcel Gignac, from Amherst, N.S., are worried that privatizing the medical cannabis industry will come at too high a cost. 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 per gram for her medication. 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. "My options are: I can sit back and suffer and die, or grow it illegally or go to jail," said 51-year-old Gignac, who smokes 30 grams a day to treat an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis. The idea behind opening up the industry is to provide users with more choice, offer a standardized quality of product, and lessen the security risks for users who grow the bud at home. Federal officials forecast the industry will grow to $1.3 billion in sales by 2024. Health Canada estimates that consumers currently pay between $1.80 to $5 per gram of dried marijuana, with the price under the new program to rise to about $7.60 per gram 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 possess 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. Since it received approval at the end of October, Peace Naturals has produced 14 different varieties of cannabis, with varying levels of potency and side-effects. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom