This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on December 2, 2013.
With Canada switching to a commercial system for medical marijuana, we got the inside scoop from a start-up out of Maple Ridge, B.C.
Agrima Botanicals is among a growing number of businesses hoping to take part in Canada’s uncharted industry for medical marijuana. Along with over 200 others, Agrima has applied for a license to supply marijuana under Health Canada’s MMPR regulations, which were announced in June.
James Poelzer, chief operations officer at Agrima and a 26-year-old Simon Fraser business grad, says he’s currently waiting to hear back about the application, which took him and his partners 6 months and “years of man-hours” to complete.
So far, only three companies have received licenses from Health Canada. But with the care that Agrima has spent in meeting the requirements, Poelzer is hopeful that his company could be next.
Many of the requirements for marijuana producers are related to security, which Poelzer compares to that of a bank.
“We’ve consulted with security professionals who are experts in this field – who have looked at it and said that this is the best way to go about this. In my opinion, we’re more secure than a bank.”
For Agrima, security includes a fenced perimeter, infrared cameras with 24/7 monitoring, multiple restricted access points, biometric employee identification, and a cement vault for storing marijuana prior to sale.
Luckily, Agrima won’t have to implement all of these measures until it actually receives a license. Meanwhile, the company is working on expanding its production facility, which was once used to grow cannabis for a small number of patients under the soon-to-expire MMAR system.
Agrima plans to be a smaller, mom-and-pops operationAlthough Agrima hasn’t grown anything since starting construction, Poelzer says the company could supply up to 3,000 to 4,000 patients by next year.
Unlike some MMPR hopefuls with heavy financial backing, Poelzer describes Agrima as more of a mom-and-pops operation than a large corporation.
Still, the company has some promising ventures planned, including a research partnership with Simon Fraser University. Poelzer and his partners were able to call on some of their former professors, who agreed to help with research on production practices, strain development and medical benefits.
Poelzer believes ongoing R&D will be important, especially in such a young and difficult-to-navigate industry.
For example, producers like Agrima face restrictions on where they can source their strains, with the only options being patients, other MMPR producers, or a federally-approved source. Poelzer adds that the latter is still unclear.
However, by selectively breeding cannabis and mapping genetics of different strains, Agrima hopes to offer strains that are suitable for a variety of needs.
Health Canada requires THC and CBD % to be tested and labeledUnder Health Canada regulations, producers must label each product with lab-verified THC and CBD percentages. Poelzer says producers must also abide by strict testing requirements for heavy metals, pesticides and other harmful contaminants.
The aim, it seems, is to create a medicinal product that passes the same standards as pharmaceuticals. And hopefully, a product that health insurers will be willing to cover.
“We feel that marijuana should be like any other pharmaceutical out there, and that it should be covered under health care plans.”
Poelzer notes if this were to occur, the medicine would be “essentially free” for patients. But until then, patients who were once allowed to grow will – come April – be forced to pay full price for marijuana supplied by commercial producers like Agrima.
And that’s not fair, says Poelzer.
Keep Canada out of Michigan. Eh.