Pubdate: Wed, 01 Oct 2008
Source: BC Business (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Canada Wide Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.bcbusinessmagazine.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4422
Author: Susan Hollis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

CANNABIS CULTIVATORS

Most people wouldn't willingly file their income taxes under the 
category of "marijuana grower," but Eric Nash and his wife Wendy 
Little aren't most people. The Vancouver Island residents are bona 
fide organic pot producers, legally selling their product to Health 
Canada-approved patients who use cannabis to ease medical discomfort. 
Not the most ordinary of occupations for a small-town web designer 
and a teacher.

The pair didn't originally plan on becoming one of B.C.'s premier 
cannabis producers, but when one of Little's relatives fell ill in 
2001 they researched the medicinal benefits of the drug and decided 
they wanted to help.

"We are definitely forging our own path," says Nash from his 
Vancouver Island home, the exact location of which he keeps secret. 
"We declare all our income on our cannabis, we pay taxes on our 
cannabis, so yeah, it's quite innovative."

Government regulations restrict Island Harvest to a production of 45 
plants, but it previously grew up to 90, when the policy was more 
flexible. From an initial investment of $3,000, the duo have mastered 
the art of growing the plant with no major setbacks, and since 2002 
have sold approximately $30,000 to $40,000 worth of pot. It costs 
them $1.29 a gram to propagate their seeds, which they sell directly 
to patients for $3.50 to $4.00 a gram. The cannabis is packaged at an 
off-site growing operation and is mailed to recipients directly 
through Canada Post's marijuana shipping program. Their competition 
is the federal government, which grows its own marijuana at the Flin 
Flon Mine in Manitoba; a handful of compassion clubs; and other 
private growers across the country. Nash says a high user-to-producer 
ratio means there is more than enough room for everyone involved to 
make a living, especially if the -government relaxes its growing limitations.

Nash says Island Harvest follows the same business principles as any 
other company. "We adhere to high crop production standards and 
provide a good quality product to people that, from a consumer 
perspective, works well for their specific condition," he says. 
"Basically it's all about providing the consumer with a clean organic 
product that works well for their medical -condition."