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.
Health Canada intends to make Flin Flon-grown medicinal marijuana available at participating pharmacies across British Columbia in a groundbreaking pilot project. Reportedly set to begin later this year, the initiative would allow government-approved patients to purchase the Flin Flon pot from their pharmacists without a prescription. Ottawa currently permits 78 registered Canadians to purchase medicinal marijuana from Health Canada for $150 per 30-gram bag. The pilot project would create easier access to the pot and some expect it will prompt many more medicinal marijuana users to register with the government. The project is being modeled after a program in the Netherlands, the first country in the world to allow the direct sale of medical marijuana in pharmacies. Many patients with diseases such as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis say that using marijuana helps alleviate their symptoms. Saskatoon-based Prairie Plant Systems is under contract by the federal government to grow medicinal marijuana in an abandoned Trout Lake mine shaft in Flin Flon. The grow operation at Trout Lake was officially launched in August of 2001.
