Mississippi medicine

>> Canadians grow great pot, but Ottawa imports U.S. marijuana for clinical trials

by PHILIP PREVILLE

Sasha Przytyk can't help but see the irony in the Canadian government's handling of its first clinical marijuana trials. For years, says the hemp farmer and legalization activist, anti-drug agencies like NIDA [the National Institute on Drug Abuse] have been saying that Canadian-grown marijuana is getting stronger and stronger, that our nation's illicit pot-growers are getting better and better at plying their nefarious horticultural trade.

But now that Ottawa has decided to move forward with clinical trials of marijuana for medical purposes, it wants nothing to do with Canadian pot-growers. Instead, Ottawa announced last week it will be importing marijuana grown legally at the University of Mississippi.

"If our pot is stronger, that means it's more pure," explains Przytyk. "With medicinal marijuana, the important thing is to keep the THC levels consistent, to ensure the dosage is always the same. And according to the government, our growers seem to be good at that already.

"The problem is, Ottawa doesn't want to buy from an illicit source. And it's a difficult situation for the growers too. It would take a lot of courage for someone to stand up and say, 'I'm already growing what you're looking for.'"

Pot growers lining up

And yet, that's what some of Canada's cannabis cultivators seem to be doing. The federal government plans to begin licensing some Canadian farmers to grow medicinal pot as early as next year. And since last week's announcement, says Health Canada spokesperson Joanne Ford, her Ottawa office has been inundated with calls from farmers wanting to grow government-approved pot. "None of the callers ever come out and say they're already growing it," she says, "but they hint very strongly that they have 'experience' with this particular crop."

Unfortunately, says Ford, these eager entrepreneurs will have to wait. "We're still in the process of setting standards for this project. We need to consider issues like crop security, chemical consistency and whether it should be grown indoors or outdoors. If someone actually sent us a written proposal right now, we wouldn't know how to evaluate it." She adds, however, that the government is committed to developing a controlled growing operation and to producing made-in-Canada therapeutic dope.

Hemp-growers lose out

Przytyk is one of the people who says he's interested in getting a government license. Currently, Przytyk is part-owner of two different companies, Gen-X Research in Saskatchewan and ChanvrEstrie in the Eastern Townships, both of which have been granted federal licenses to grow industrial hemp (a crop in the same family as the cannabis plant, but with no THC and thus no ability to induce altered states). And while he is not personally "experienced" in growing THC-laden cannabis, he says he knows people who do. "One of our partners in Gen-X Research lives in Britain, and he has helped produce crops for clinical trials currently taking place over there," Przytyk explains. He believes his access to above-the-board, totally legal and licit dope-growing expertise may come in handy during the application process.

However, he says that currently licensed hemp growers may actually be at a disadvantage when trying to secure one of the highly coveted licenses. "You could not grow industrial hemp and medicinal marijuana side-by-side on the same land," says Przytyk, who currently manages over 1,000 acres of hemp. "If you did, you would not be able to guarantee the chemical consistency of either crop. You need to grow in an entirely different location.

"You also need to set up a separate entity, like a research institute or something. Right now, hemp farming takes up all my time."

While the government refuses to grant any licenses to farmers for the time being, they will allow some individuals to grow their own medicinal pot. Jim Wakeford, the AIDS-afflicted Torontonian who took the government to court over his right to use marijuana, is expected to be allowed to grow his own.

Thus far, more than 30 Canadians have requested permission to legally grow and smoke marijuana. The government is evaluating each request on a case-by-case basis.