Kelowna

Marijuana is in no short supply in the Okanagan, but legal growers and distributors of medicinal marijuana sure are.

Matt Lane of the Canada Medicinal Marijuana Store in Victoria is trying to change that. He is placing advertisements in newspapers across Canada to market his product direct to consumers.

“Now accepting new recipients,” his ad reads. “Available in over 50 High Potency Strains.”

Lane has a rare exemption from Health Canada to grow marijuana for medicinal use and he offers to courier his product to consumers for $135 per ounce—less than half street prices.

“I’ve got one massive facility so I can grow for over 1,500 clients at a time,” Lane says. He grows in a 7,000 square foot facility in Victoria. “That’s basically what our company does. We are helping people sign up right now to be able to get us to be their designated grower so legally we are allowed to supply them with marijuana for medicinal purposes. Health Canada provides them with a card saying they are allowed to have it and we are provided the card by Health Canada saying that we are allowed to grow it for them.”

Marijuana can be used in the treatment of AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain and others. The trouble is that science hasn’t necessarily proven its benefits. That’s what keeps doctors from prescribing it for patients.

Lane is keeping up the pressure by marketing directly to consumers who might not know of its potential benefits or that there are legal uses for it. And his hook is marketing higher grade marijuana than the Canadian government currently grows in its own facility in Manitoba.

The advantage of higher potency is being able to smoke less at a time for the same reaction, he says.

“There’s been response to my ads from as far away as Ontario,” he says. “There was lots of reaction from all over B.C. (including) the Okanagan.”

Interview with Matt Lane (Kelly Hayes)

Link: Lane's web site