Pubdate: Wed, 05 Mar 2014
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2014 The Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.dailytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1579
Author: Mike McConnell, The Daily Tribune
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

MADISON HEIGHTS BUSINESSMAN SEES BILLIONS IN MEDICAL POT

A Madison Heights businessman is building a facility in Canada to 
grow government-controlled medical marijuana that he hopes to turn 
into a $5 billion a year business that could spread to the U.S.

Bill Chaaban, CEO of Creative Edge Nutrition Inc. headquartered in 
Madison Heights, is working with that company's Canadian subsidiary, 
CEN Biotech, to build a marijuana growing facility near Windsor in 
Lakeshore, Ont.

The company has gotten permission from the national Health Canada 
department to build its industrial growing facility. Once it is 
complete and Health Canada inspects it, Chaaban expects he will get 
permission to grow and sell marijuana for import and export with the 
roughly 30 countries worldwide that allow for medical or legal marijuana use.

He would not disclose how he raised the estimated $12 million it is 
costing to build the growing operation, saying only that he got the 
money from public and private sources.

Canadian law allows the use of medical marijuana by registered 
patients and caregivers who are allowed to grow limited amounts of 
marijuana or purchase it from Health Canada. But, starting April 1, 
patients will have to buy marijuana from several pot growers licensed 
by Health Canada.

Chaaban is starting out with a 27,000-square-foot facility on 10.3 
acres. He said he wants to eventually expand that facility to more 
than 1 million square feet on multiple floors and within five years 
grow 1.3 million pounds of pot annually.

"That would translate to $5 billion a year" in revenue, Chaaban said. 
"We anticipate a profit margin of 80 percent."

Right now workers are installing cameras, fencing and other security 
features at the Lakeshore facility in anticipation of an inspection 
by Health Canada to get a permit to grow.

"We anticipate our license being issued in eight to 12 weeks," 
Chaaban said. Pot production could begin within six months.

Chaaban said he is working with another Madison Heights company 
called RXNB Inc. that makes hydroponic equipment to grow cannabis.

The Michigan Legislature in December passed a bill that would allow 
pharmacies to dispense medical marijuana should the federal 
government ever legalize it. The bill was sponsored by State Sen. 
Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who is an M.D. The law would prohibit 
individuals from growing their own marijuana and only allow pot to be 
grown by producers licensed by the state Department of Community Health.

The bill would make marijuana a Schedule II drug, a highly 
restrictive classification that presently includes highly addictive 
drugs such as morphine, OxyContin, amphetamines, Percodan and Methadone.

Sen. Kahn refused to comment on issues related to his bill when his 
office was contacted.

Marijuana laws in the U.S. are slackening state by state, even though 
pot is prohibited under federal law. Two states  Washington and 
Colorado  have legalized pot, while about 20 others have 
decriminalized the substance or allowed it to be used for medical patients.

Tim Beck, a Detroit resident and co-founder of the Safer Michigan 
Coalition, was most recently involved in ballot measures in Michigan 
that decriminalized possession of an ounce or less of marijuana by 
adults on private property in Jackson, Lansing and Ferndale.

Beck was also involved in other measures to decriminalize or allow 
for medical marijuana in other cities in Michigan over the past decade.

"Ultimately, I believe marijuana will be legalized in this country," 
Beck said. "With Chaaban, his deal is only relevant to Canada, which 
will go to a full regulatory model. That could be the model we end up 
with in the U.S. if we get full legalization, but it will be a 
state-by-state thing."

It will take about a decade before a majority of states in the U.S 
move to legalizing pot, Beck added.

Chaaban is more optimistic about pot being legalized in the U.S., 
estimating the federal government could move toward legalization for 
medical use within two years.

He sees his company doing up to $50 million a year in medical 
marijuana sales in the U.S. if it is legalized nationwide.

Chaaban said he will be ready if that day comes and would grow 
marijuana in Michigan and look to build a growing facility in Detroit.

The Creative Edge Nutrition company that Chaaban heads sells 
nutritional supplements and is a public company that trades as a 
high-risk "over-the-counter"/Pink Sheet stock for about 7 cents as of 
Tuesday, according to Business Insider, a U.S. business and technology website.

An attorney, Chaaban said he has never used marijuana even though he 
is betting on profiting from its medical use.

"I never knew what a marijuana plant looked like until I went to 
Santa Cruz (Calif.) and saw one" recently, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom