Dutch maker of medical marijuana considers supplying Canada

[Puffin13]

Dutch maker of medical marijuana considers supplying Canada
May 7, 2009

A Dutch company is interested in supplying marijuana to Canada's medical pot users, a service currently provided by a Saskatoon company with an operation in Flin Flon, Man., near the Saskatchewan border.

Bedrocan B.V. has been producing medical-grade marijuana for the government of the Netherlands for six years. The company is contemplating bidding for a similar contract with Canada.

The federal government recently extended a contract with Prairie Plant Systems, the company behind the Flin Flon plant, to 2011. In the meantime, it has called for contract bids from other potential suppliers.

Bedrocan is contemplating submitting a bid but is asking the government for more details, including the length of any contract.

The Dutch company said it could offer different types of marijuana.

"Offering more varieties is the first thing," Bedrocan director Tjalling Erkelens said this week from Veendam. "I think that's very important to patients, that they have this possibility to choose different varieties."

Bedrocan's most potent variety contains 18 per cent THC, the main intoxicating ingredient in marijuana that has been shown to reduce nausea and increase appetite in cancer and AIDS patients. It has also been shown to reduce pain in people with such diseases as glaucoma and multiple sclerosis.

Another Bedrocan variety has very little THC but has more cannabidiol (CBD), which is not intoxicating. It acts as a sedative.

"In Europe, many medical doctors are more interested in the CBD part," Erkelens said.

The call for a variety of medicinal pot has already come from within Canada's medical cannabis community.

"Different strains have different effects on different symptoms," said Philippe Lucas of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, which supplies several strains of cannabis to about 900 people.

The federal government currently gets its medical pot from an old mine in Flin Flon, Man., run by Prairie Plant Systems Inc.

The company is required to follow a strict set of conditions and use one strain only.

"It's a very tight, specific product that's highly tested ... it has to be highly consistent," company president Brent Zettl said from Saskatoon.

The federal supply is so unpopular that only about 20 per cent of Canadians who are allowed to use medical pot rely on it.

Others grow their own under federal licence. Many also buy pot on the black market or share with friends, risking fines or jail time.

Bedrocan's possible entry into the market is not definite.

"I'm waiting for more information at this moment, and we'll see what we do," Erkelens said.

Source

[doobydave]

Isn't this a bit late now that Canadian MM users are allowed to produce themselves?

[sh@dy]

Isn't this a bit late now that Canadian MM users are allowed to produce themselves?

I wouldnt grow my own if there was a shop you could buy it from. I mean, I would still have 1 or 2 plants in the garden just because I like the appereance of the plant but I wouldnt do it for the smoke....if they do some good buds, why bother and grow your own?

[rks0]

Flin Flon.
What a great name for a place!

[doobydave]

I wouldnt grow my own if there was a shop you could buy it from. I mean, I would still have 1 or 2 plants in the garden just because I like the appereance of the plant but I wouldnt do it for the smoke....if they do some good buds, why bother and grow your own?

True. They should have the choice to do both.

I don't think the government need to look as far as the Netherlands to put some love into their MM production though, even if it is a nice gesture.

[Ingwey Gooblebogger]

Flin Flon.
What a great name for a place!

Yup, named after a fictional character, in the book, The Sunless City by J. E. Preston Muddock. (Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin)

[Max Flower]

Thanks for the article Puffin, the Dutch stuff has to be better than the one strain, Flin Flon mine weed..

Flin Flon.
What a great name for a place!

Yes much better than Dildo.

Interesting footnote, there Ingwey

[TwoCanucks]

Isn't this a bit late now that Canadian MM users are allowed to produce themselves?

I wouldnt grow my own if there was a shop you could buy it from. I mean, I would still have 1 or 2 plants in the garden just because I like the appereance of the plant but I wouldnt do it for the smoke....if they do some good buds, why bother and grow your own?

There are many sources of medical marijuana for purchase by exemptees in Canada.

http://www.cannabisdispensary.ca/Main/links

[doobydave]

This article http://cannazine.co.uk/cannabis-news/ca ... nment.html gives the impression the Canadian MM users had no legal access to marijuana other than the governments one strain.

Tbh, I've lost track of Canada cannabis laws. Wasn't it many years ago now that the courts ordered the government to change the drug laws to incorporate access to MM for patients? And didn't the government fail to make these changes within the set time limit?

I was told that this failure to act upon the courts wishes would render all laws regarding marijuana null and void. So what happened?

It's a funny old world.

[Sir Niall of Essex-sire]

Health Canada permits marijuana for approved patients who can demonstrate a medical need for it.

Wikipedia.

[Ingwey Gooblebogger]

Health Canada permits marijuana for approved patients who can demonstrate a medical need for it.

That's true, and has been so for years, but this issue is not as simple as it would appear, on the surface. Some issues remain, such as:

1) They do NOT ensure patients can get their supply.
Legally permitted pateints can grow their own (or have a designated grower grow for them), or they can buy the govt schwag, or they can use one of the compassion clubs.

Tolerance for compassion clubs varies by locale and, essentially, they are permitted while maybe not being entirely legal. (Compare this idea to coffeeshops in the Netherlands. Cannabis is, technically, illegal in the Netherlands, but coffeeshops are permited to exist.) So, if the winds change they could be shut down.

Considering that Canada is the second largest country in the world, after Russia, it is difficult to say the unwritten "policy of Canada" is such and such. What is kosher in one locale may be verboten in another one, 1500 miles apart.

2) It can be very difficult to get a medical MJ exemption. Many doctors might be unwilling to sign the forms. I think the majority of Canadian medical MJ users do NOT have the certification to do so. Hence, they could be arrested for possession, cultivation and so on.

So, the Canadian medical MJ issue is a little more complex than it would appear.

The govt grass is not cheap (If you require daily medicine, in the several grams/day dosages, the costs become prohibitive.). THe compassion clubs, while not neccessarily being inexpensive, at least provide very good quality bud/hash/budder/edibles, etc.

Keep in mind, the "Flin Flon mine" grass is not schwag because of where it is grown, it is schwag because of the, way it is grown, how it is packaged, and the regulations required, with which the comapny has to comply. (If I am not mistaken they don't just use buds and I think it comes pre-ground. )

All of the so-called "BC Bud" is grown in-doors, so the growing locale does NOT have anything to do with the potency. (Some of the local BC folks don't seem to get this though. They seem to think that the climate in their basement is a much superior climate to the climate of a basement in Halifax? )