Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 2015
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Vito Pilieci
Page: A4

MARIJUANA BUSINESS NOT MINE, ROCK SAYS

'No involvement' in wife's venture

The president of the University of Ottawa says he is not involved in a
medical marijuana operation that his wife and one of their children
are setting up.

Allan Rock issued a statement Wednesday contradicting a published
report that suggested he has a role in a company looking to call
itself Rock Garden Medicinals.

"I have no involvement with this application nor the proposed business
venture that is being planned," Rock said in a statement to the
Citizen. "I am not a director, shareholder, officer, employee or
adviser of the company they have incorporated to carry on their
business should they be granted a licence. I do not attend meetings,
provide counsel, or participate in any other way in the proposed venture."

Rock said his wife, Deborah Hanscom, and one of the couple's children
is actively involved in setting up the business. Hanscom has listed
the fledgling operation on her LinkedIn profile, where she identifies
herself as the company's chief executive officer and general counsel.
She holds a law degree from the University of Toronto.

Rock applauded the business undertaking that his wife is spearheading,
calling it an "entirely legitimate and fast-growing" business.

Rock was responding to a report in Ottawa's Metro newspaper, which
said the president of the university and his family were behind the
business, citing "corporate documents."

In his statement, Rock claimed the documents obtained by the paper
list him as a director of an arm's-length business that was formed to
secure the loan needed to procure a parcel of land on which Hanscom's
company could eventually build a manufacturing facility.

He said the reason he is named in the documents is because he is a
co-owner of the couple's home, which Hanscom used a collateral to
secure the loan for the land.

"The purchased land was placed in a separate company and, as co-owner
of the home, I became a director of that company, whose only purpose
is to hold title to the property," he said. "That does not mean in any
way that I am involved in the licence application or the proposed business."

Rock said he has spoken to members of the University of Ottawa's board
of directors about the matter.

There are already more than 40,000 Canadians who are legally using
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Health Canada says it expects that
number to jump to more than 480,000 users in the next 10 years.

The booming market has drawn a number of companies, including Tweed
Inc. in Smiths Falls, a publicly traded business that reported
revenues of $641,309 during the last three months of 2014. A total of
$357,142 in sales happened during the month of December alone. The
company obtained its licence to begin operations in January 2014.

The real holdup for Hanscom's Rock Garden Medicinals is in its
application to Health Canada to allow it to begin growing and
producing marijuana for medicinal purposes. The federal department is
currently wading through more than 325 applications from businesses
that are hoping to jump into the booming market.
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MAP posted-by: Matt