Pubdate: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 Source: Peterborough Examiner, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2007 Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2616 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) MARKUP ON MARIJUANA OTTAWA - The federal government charges patients 15 times more for certified medical marijuana than it pays to buy the weed in bulk from its official supplier, newly released documents show. Critics say it's unconscionable to charge that high a markup to some of the country's sickest citizens, who have little income and are often cut off from their medical marijuana supply when they can't pay their government dope bills. Records obtained under the Access to Information Act show that Health Canada pays $328.75 for each kilogram of bulk medical marijuana produced by Prairie Plant Systems Inc. The company currently has a $10.3-million contract with Health Canada, which expires at the end of September, to grow standardized medical marijuana in an abandoned mine shaft in Flin Flon, Man. Health Canada sells the marijuana to a small group of authorized users for $150 - plus GST - for each 30-gram bag of ground-up flowering tops. That works out to $5,000 for each kilogram, or a markup of more than 1,500 per cent. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman