Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jun 2015
Source: Kamloops This Week (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Kamloops This Week
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1271
Author: Andrea Klassen

KAMLOOPS' CANNABIS KING

Adam Miron doesn't look like your average pot grower.

In cufflinks and a sport coat, sipping coffee and checking his 
smartphone, the former Thompson Rivers University student looks more 
like the political operative he once was, as the head of Kamloops' 
Young Liberals and later as the youth wing's national director.

But, then again, Miron's latest venture isn't the average medical 
marijuana operation either.

Just under 20 companies across the country are licensed to sell 
various strains of the drug to the public, and most price their wares 
at just under $9 per gram.

The Hydropothecary, which Miron founded two years ago in Gatineau, 
Que., with brother-in-law Sebastien St. Louis, is aiming higher.

Its strains of marijuana are priced at $15 a gram and aimed at the 
types of Canadians who are used to shelling out a little more for a 
luxury experience.

"What we're talking about are demographic pockets like soccer moms, 
professionals, government-types with security clearances," he told 
KTW during a recent trip back to Kamloops visit family.

While many of those groups are interested in using medical marijuana, 
Miron said focus groups found they're often too nervous to make the purchase.

"To some people it's scary, and it's scary for a couple different 
reasons. One, what will my neighbours think?" he said.

To combat those anxieties, the company has steered clear of the usual 
trappings of marijuana sales.

Instead of Purple Kushes and White Widows, the company offers strains 
with names like Good Morning and After Dinner, mailed in a black and 
white, ribbon-tied box inspired by French fashion house Chanel.

At first blush, the company's website could be the home of a bakery 
or some sort of luxury tea company.

"You'll never see smoke, you'll never see marijuana leaves on our 
website," Miron said.

Nor does the word marijuana come up often in his sales pitch. More 
often, Hydropothecary's product is "medical cannabis."

The company also offers special "vault reserves" with slightly 
stronger levels of THC, a 24-hour helpline and other premium services.

Miron wasn't particularly enthusiastic about marijuana, medical or 
otherwise, before he became a supplier himself.

"I don't participate," he said.

But, when the Canadian government began moving away from allowing 
medical users to grow at home in favour of turning production over to 
a series of licensed companies (a move still legally contested), the 
time was right for a new venture.

Both Miron and brother-in-law St. Louis were enjoying "mini 
retirements," focusing on family travel.

On a Canada Day camping trip not long after the new system was first 
announced, St. Louis suggested they jump into the developing industry.

"We joked about it around the campfire and, Sebastian being 
Sebastian, he didn't sleep and spent the next two weeks making a 
spreadsheet and came to me and said, 'We've got to do this,'" Miron recalled.

When a close family member became ill and found medical pot was the 
best source of relief, he became convinced the company could do some good.

Getting to the point of selling the drug was a long road.

First came four months to fill out the government's application.

Then came buying land, an 80-acre farm that formerly grew ornamental 
plants, and building a facility.

Rounds of government inspections followed, with the company slowly 
gaining approval to grow and eventually store dried marijuana.

Though it's been growing stock for quite some time, Hydropothecary 
only got its license to sell product at the start of June.

A few days in, Miron said business is already brisk.

"We almost hit half of our monthly acquisition target in the first 
two days and it hasn't stopped," he said.

The company is so far invite-only, but plans to move to a more 
broad-based sales approach towards summer.

While Miron doubts he would have imagined a future for himself in pot 
back when he was busy advocating for a political science degree 
program at TRU or campaigning for former Liberal leader Stephane 
Dion's, he said his new career - described as one part jet-setting, 
one part "having meetings in barns" - is an oddly good fit.

"I always was an entrepreneur," he said.

"I couldn't even tell you how many different businesses in different 
spaces I've had. So, is this something I could have seen? Probably 
not. But, remove that component of it, and it's exactly what I've 
always been doing."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom