The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon may churn out world-class metals and top-notch hockey talent, but the quality of its medicinal marijuana may be another story. Some of the first patients to smoke the medicinal pot grown in an abandoned shaft at Trout Lake Mine told The Canadian Press this week that the product is weak and nauseating. "It made me nauseous because I had to use so much of it. It was so weak in potency that I really threw up," said Barrie Dalley, an AIDS patient in Toronto. See 'Totally' P.# Con't from P.# AIDS patient Jim Wakeford of Gibsons, B.C. called the weed "totally unsuitable for human consumption." The men are among the 10 patients registered with Health Canada to buy medicinal marijuana from the federal government to help ease their suffering. Both men told CP they will return their 30-gram supplies, and Dalley plans on asking for his money back. In July, Health Canada adopted an interim policy mandating the government to sell marijuana and marijuana seeds to authorized patients. Dried marijuana plants are sold to authorized individuals who are unable to produce pot or find a person to produce it on their behalf. All seeds and plants are supplied by Prairie Plant Systems, the Saskatoon-based company under federal contract to produce medicinal marijuana at the Trout Lake Mine. According to a group advocating safe supplies of marijuana for sick people, the Flin Flon pot contains too little THC, the active drug component in pot, to be effective. Philippe Lucas, a spokesman for Canadians for Safe Access, told CP that his group had the marijuana tested and found that it contained about three per cent THC, not 10.2 per cent as advertised. A government spokesperson told the print media organization that no patients have complained about the pot to Health Canada. Health Minister Anne McLellan told CP that the product was analyzed "to ensure quality and potency." The medicinal marijuana grow operation at Trout Lake was officially launched in August of 2001, putting Flin Flon in the international media spotlight. Former health minister Allan Rock attended the opening ceremony, telling the approximately 100 people on hand that medicinal pot needs to be made available to ill people who will benefit from its use. "In the past, Flin Flon has been known for its lakes, its scenery, fishing, Bobby Clark and Gerry Hart and the NHL," said Rock at the ceremony. "Now, it will also be known as a source for an important product. In that way, it has made a significant contribution."
