Provincial move raises cannabis concerns

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/07/2017 (3153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ever since opening Growers N’ Smokers, Rick Macl has been patiently waiting for the government to knock on his door.

He was pleasantly surprised that the Manitoba government has expressed interest in determining possible participants in the new cannabis industry.

The expression of interest came just nine days after Premier Brian Pallister urged other provincial governments to join him in an attempt to push legalization back a full year.

Macl said Saskatchewan and Manitoba seem to be the only provinces pushing back against the federal government’s proposed legalization date — July 1, 2018.

“We can’t legalize the east and west coasts and just leave the guys in the middle who can’t seem to get it together,” Macl said.

The premiers have expressed concerns over issues such as taxation, impaired driving and public education not being addressed. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has implied that more time would be requested if these concerns were not dealt with, to which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded firmly, citing the fact that street gangs are making millions of dollars in profit off the sale of marijuana.

Premiers also have concerns about supply and demand, which Macl was happy to address.

“If they don’t want to run out, they need to be growing, commercially, by January,” Macl said.

Justice Minister Heather Stefanson said that the purpose of the expression of interest, issued on July 27, is to determine market place interest and capability to provide services for the production, distribution and retail of cannabis in order to meet the needs of the cannabis industry in Manitoba.

“Street value is 10 bucks a gram, so we have to be under that or there’s no point,” Macl said. “We have to have producers producing for less than that, and it costs more to be a craft grower than it does to be a commercial grower.

“My biggest concern is that licensed producers are struggling to keep up with the current demand of medical marijuana. So recreational pot cannot come from the medical producers.”

The mission at Growers N’ Smokers, Macl said, is to educate people about medical marijuana. Brandonites seeking access to medical-grade cannabis can visit Macl for an application, which they will fill out and have Macl fax to a doctor who can provide them with the prescription they’re looking for.

Applicants must have a prior diagnosis to be granted a prescription. Applications are accompanied with a frequently asked questions sheet, a list of the components found in marijuana and their health benefits.

As a medical marijuana user for six years and general pot enthusiast, Macl said there are some huge gaps that need to be filled in terms of impaired driving, education and commercial production before the province attempts a successful legalization process.

“If I smoke a joint today, it will be 48 hours before half of that is out of my system. Anyone who’s consumed weed within four days can’t drive? How’s that going to work?” he said.

Macl’s point, he said, was that government officials shouldn’t worry about the amount that is in a person’s system, but rather their level of impairment. He also mentioned that when people drive high, they don’t seem to be in a rush, or speed, and that they’re more cautious than usual on the road.

Karen Peddle is a long-term medical user and grower. After being diagnosed with cancer, having a hysterectomy and a double mastectomy, she decided it was time to try medicinal marijuana and hasn’t looked back since.

“If I didn’t have my vape to have some weed before I drove, I wouldn’t be able to drive,” Peddle said. “If I didn’t have it, I would be driving impaired. How’s that sound?”

She said that without medical-grade marijuana, she would be unable to function from the nausea and pain she suffers.

Peddle’s hope as a dedicated medical user and grower is that the government must ensure that all products are properly tested for their property levels. According to her, dispensaries do not currently provide access to everything that is in a particular strain, which poses a huge threat to her health.

“If anything goes in my system that could clot my blood, make it thicker or thinner, it would kill me,” Peddle said. “Dispensaries are being shut down every day for the stuff that’s in their weed, and that’s a very serious thing.”

Peddle said she is one of two people in the entire world suffering from a rare medical condition. She said that cancer claimed her inferior vena cava, the large vein that pushes blood from the lower body upward into the right atrium of the heart. For her, it’s imperative that her product be diligently tested and regulated.

“Right now I cannot call a dispensary and find out what’s in their product,” Peddle said. “This product should be tested the same way pharmaceuticals are tested.”

Peddle’s life expectancy at the time of her diagnosis was very short, she said. Five years later, she’s as well as she’ll ever be, and has never had chemotherapy.

She isn’t alone in seeking medical treatment from cannabis, as Macl said he had a dozen people come out to a recent cannabis education seminar in Boissevain.

Macl has an 11-year-old son. He said he was very careful about how he introduced his son to his new line of work when he opened up his new business.

To this day, Macl doesn’t medicate in front of his son, but he has begun explaining to him what cannabis is for and more importantly, how through his work, he gets to help people use it properly.

“I had him in the store and he was just playing video games and a woman with Parkinson’s came in,” Macl said, “She was visually unwell, she could hardly walk or talk and my son saw that. When she left, I explained to him that cannabis can help that woman to cope with her illness.”

Macl said he wants to be the reputable person in town who knows about cannabis and can help people figure out how to use it in a way that is most beneficial to them.

“I don’t talk about recreational weed. I don’t talk about getting high. I talk about it as a medicine. That’s what we need to start doing on a public scale,” he said.

Macl has plans to turn his medical information station and head shop into a full-blown dispensary as soon as he’s legally able.

He has purchased the location next door to him at 7-223 18th St. North — formerly the office of Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire — to make his dream a reality.

» msolomon@brandonsun.com

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