REGINA – Come the spring, the federal government will cut the rights to grow your own medicinal marijuana.
It’s to launch a billion-dollar free market system, where only those with commercial licenses will be allowed to grow pot.
While some Saskatchewan businesses may thrive, others could take a major hit when the rules go into effect.
“60 per cent of my customers are growing cannabis,” said Darin Wheatley, who runs B&B Hydroponics, selling everything from nutrient solution to lighting for indoor gardens.
Wheatley says the bulk of his business is the result of a Health Canada program, where smaller operations grow marijuana for medical purposes.
But by April 2014, the majority of his customers will be gone.
Taking their place will be colossal indoor farms, buying their lights wholesale.
The new ventures will be licensed by Health Canada.
One of those applying for a license is Tim Selenski of The Green Canvas.
“If I didn’t apply for a license, hundreds of people in Saskatchewan would be without medication,” Selenski said.
The company operates greenhouses all over the province, and Selenski doesn’t agree the new system will improve access.
Since there’s only one license granted in Saskatchewan so far, he worries many people who are sick and on fixed incomes will be priced out of a new, legal, marijuana market.
He’s asking other small growers to step up.
“We have built an agriculture community of marijuana growers,” said Selenski. “This is an opportunity for Saskatchewan to lead (the charge against new legislation).”
It’s a push against regulations that may cut in to more than just one business when the independent growers are outlawed next spring.
“It’ll just be one or two people wandering in buying lights and nutrients,” said Wheatley.
Comments