Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jan 2014
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Isabel Teotonio
Note: Sixth article in a week-long series (6 of 6)
Note: Previous article  http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n055/a08.html

Faces of pot: The grower

MARIJUANA MARKET OPENS FOR BUSINESS

Mark Gobuty Aims To Spread The Drug's Health Benefits

Mark Gobuty stands in the middle of a crop of plants with names such
as Happy Face, Sweet Dreams and Holy Grail.

Wearing a white lab coat and hard hat, he looks part-scientist and
part-construction worker. It seems fitting for someone building a
company that is genetically testing marijuana plants to create
ailment-specific strains.

The former health-food producer began growing medical marijuana for
his parents in 2011, inside a century-old barn, nestled in the rolling
farmland of Clearview Township, south of Georgian Bay.

That "adventure" evolved into the Peace Naturals Project, a federally
licensed producer among the first companies approved by Health Canada
to distribute medical cannabis under new regulations introduced in
October that take full effect on April 1.

"There's an opportunity to shape an industry," says Gobuty of what
motivated him to get in early and set the standard on quality, message
and pricing.

To date, Health Canada has received 404 applications to produce and
distribute medical marijuana, 164 of them from Ontario. Four licences
have been granted to CanniMed Ltd., Mettrum Ltd., Bedrocan Canada Inc.
and the Peace Naturals Project Inc.

Under the new regulations, medicinal users can no longer grow their
own pot, nor will the government sell it. Instead, a burgeoning free
market of licensed growers will cultivate and sell standardized
quality weed at competitive prices to patients with a doctor's
prescription. Marijuana can be prescribed for the management and
treatment of symptoms and ailments, including HIV, chronic pain and
appetite stimulation.

Currently, there are about 37,500 licensed medicinal users in Canada.
But based on the rate of growth in previous years, that number is
expected to hit 450,000 by 2024, with projections of $1.3 billion per
year in annual sales, according to Health Canada.

The new law has sparked outrage from some users and a federal lawsuit
alleging it violates the constitutional rights of patients because it
strips them of the ability to grow.

Users fear market prices will be too costly, when compared with $1 to
$4 a gram it costs to grow it themselves. It is estimated commercial
prices may run as high as $12 a gram. The Peace Naturals Project is
selling cannabis for $6 a gram; $3 for those on disability allowance.

For users, costs add up because, unlike other medication, cannabis
doesn't have a drug identification number, meaning drug plans won't
cover it.

However, Veterans Affairs pays for it and WSIB covers it in some
cases.

Many are also concerned that, come April 1, the market won't be ready
to meet the demand. Gobuty admits there's a risk of that, but is
confident the market will catch up.

Currently, there's a glut of pot on the street, selling at record-low
prices so licensed producers could face stiff competition from street
dealers.

Gobuty's journey to pot producer started three years ago, after
peeking inside his parents' medicine cabinet. He was stunned by all
the pain medications they were taking for severe arthritis and other
ailments.

After discussing the idea with his brothers, Gobuty offered to grow
pot. He had learned about growing cannabis from a friend who is the
largest industrial hemp producer in the world. He hoped to lure his
70-something snowbird parents back home from California so they could
spend time with the grandkids.

His parents agreed and, as Gobuty puts it, "the adventure began." The
benefits of cannabis became evident when he saw his father's agility
improve and pain decrease.

"We saw immediate results, as in the first time he smoked cannabis,"
he recalls. "His dexterity was night and day."

In the mornings, his father's hands were so stiff from the arthritis
that he couldn't type on a keyboard or hold a pen. But 15 minutes
after smoking pot, his agility could rival that of a piano player,
Gobuty says.

Marijuana made his father, who is also a cancer survivor, less
dependent on pain pills and alcohol, which he had used to numb the
pain.

"We got him off the treadmill, so to speak," says Gobuty. "(He) was
much happier and much more engaged with my children and could
genuinely contribute to what we were doing in the production facility.
. . . He thrived."

Gobuty's mother didn't experience the same benefits. She never fully
embraced hew new medicine - in part because she didn't like the idea
of consuming marijuana.

At the time, growing pot was simply a passion. Gobuty's full-time job
was running Mum's Original, a wholesome food company, with his wife,
Ann Barnes.

Then, in the summer of 2012, he came across an article he called a
game changer. It was about Tikun Olam, an Israeli company that created
a strain of non-intoxicating marijuana by removing THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol), which has psychoactive properties, and
increasing the amount of CBD (cannabidiol), an active ingredient that
doesn't make a person high. Two weeks later, Gobuty hopped a plane to
visit a nursing home in an Israeli kibbutz whose residents were using
that marijuana. The patients, who included Holocaust survivors and
PTSD sufferers, experienced decreased levels of anxiety and opiate
consumption. Patient-family visits increased. "It truly touched my
soul," says Gobuty. "I heard stories from the nurses and caregivers,
with respect to people coming in, literally, so anxious and upset that
they would have to be tied down to a bed. . . . Three, four days later
these same people were sitting at the lunch room table, relaxed and
eating. . . . It created stabi! lity and that was extraordinary. "That
was really the genesis of where we took off from," Gobuty says. "I
came back from that first trip to Israel and said 'We have to teach
people that this is the new cannabis and this is what's possible.' "
In the fall of 2012, he incorporated the Peace Naturals Project, amid
rumbling that federal regulations would be changing and a new industry
emerging. He left Mum's Original, which his wife still runs, to focus
on the new venture.

Gobuty spent a considerable amount of time educating local authorities
and community members about his plans. But, he notes, "There wasn't
the shock factor, maybe that's a sign of the times." In November, his
company was licensed and opened for business. Among the 29 employees
are people who answer client calls, work in the growing facility and
manage the property.

That old barn is now filled with about 1,000 marijuana plants. There
are plans to introduce greenhouses and expand the facility. From the
road, the 38-hectare property looks like a hobby farm, with a barn and
house, now used as an office and call centre. It's only when visitors
get well up the driveway that it becomes apparent this isn't an
ordinary farm.

Barbed-wire fencing surrounds the barn, which is protected by cameras,
motion sensors and glass-break detectors. All employees wear a panic
button connected to the Ontario Provincial Police in the event of trouble.

Researchers measure the plants' active ingredients daily to ensure
they produce a consistent medicine. Currently, they're selling 14
varieties of marijuana, two of which have high levels of CBD, meaning
they won't make a person high but will medicate pain. Two full-time
researchers are testing 105 additional strains, and studying genetic
differences in the plants in an effort to produce ailment-specific
strains.

Because pharmacists did not want to dispense medical marijuana,
patients must contact the grower directly to fill their prescription,
which is then shipped directly to them in a smell-proof and
tamper-evident package.

Gobuty is in talks with local nursing homes about introducing cannabis
and has offered to provide vaporizers so residents can inhale the
marijuana, rather than smoke it, which is more harmful.

"What I saw (in Israel) was great dignity and the most compassionate
application of medicine I had ever seen . . . I want to bring that
here."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D