Three men showed up at the RDOS meeting today in Penticton as a motion had been presented for debate that could affect their plans. ( see earlier story )
The gentlemen represented a company called Advanced Greenhouse Technologies out of Kelowna.
David Hutchinson is the general manager and a partner in (THC) The Herbal Clone Bank.
” I would emphasize that THC Bank is focussing on a wide range of cannabis strains that provide a variety of medical treatments to support patient and doctor requirements. Our cloned material is genetically identical copies of beneficial strains (genetically identical not genetically modified!) which means patients, doctors and researchers can work with the same standardized product consistently. ”
Hutchinson and his partners are seeking permission for a legal “grow up” on ALR east of OK Falls. Hutchinson said the company is awaiting approval from Health Canada and would operate from a 740-square metre greenhouse facility producing 20,000 plants per week on a piece of land five kilometres east of Okanagan Falls.”
“As of the first of April next year, everything that we have ….we’re supposed to destroy,” said Hutchinson. “We then have to buy through one of the approved, licensed producers.” The government in Ottawa has a new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) which will replace previous legislation that allowed medicinal marijuana users to grow their own plants.
Canada has more than 40,000 medicinal marijuana users, and Health Canada has estimated that there will be 50,000 by the time the new legislation starts on April 1. To date, only two licenses have been issued by Health Canada for commercial production of marijuana under the MMPR legislation: one to Prairie Plant Systems (PPS), the sole supplier of medical cannabis to Health Canada for the last 13 years; and the other to CanniMed, a subsidiary of PPS.
One of those sites is thought to be near Midway in the Boundary Country.