A seminar on how to grow medical marijuana may be coming to Ottawa this fall.
Greenline Academy is hoping to hold a weekend seminar in the capital on the ins and outs of growing medical marijuana legally, according to Greenline founder Don Schultz.
Greenline Academy is a private company that has hosted a number of similar seminars across Canada in the past year.
A team of experts teach registrants about three aspects of growing medical marijuana: cultivation, medical benefits and chemical composition, and complying with Health Canada regulations, Schultz said.
Greenline has opened online registration for a seminar in Ottawa.
If 100 registrants and a venue can be found, the seminar will likely be held in late September, Schultz said.
“My ideal student is a patient that really needs the medicine, who can grow it for themselves or can get someone to grow it for them,” he said, adding medical professionals also attend many of Greenline’s seminars.
“My main concern is about the patients, and I try to stay away from illegal growers,” he said.
Greenline’s seminars are open to anyone willing to pay the $330 fee.
However some compassion clubs question the lack of restriction on registrants.
Compassion clubs are organizations that sell marijuana to patients in need of specialized strains of the drug. They are technically illegal operations, according to Health Canada.
“Unless they’re checking that each person that goes in to take the course are MMAR [medical marijuana access regulations] card holders, then there’s really no way of telling who is taking those lessons,” said Issac Oommen, communications co-ordinator for the British Columbia Compassion Club Society.
MMAR card holders are people who have successfully applied to Health Canada for access to medical marijuana.
However, Oommen said he supports the program described by Schultz.
“If safety and care are a big proportion of what’s being taught, then it’s a good thing. It’s good that people who are planning to grow their own medical cannabis know how to grow safe strains that are not going to harm them,” he said.
Those patients may not be growing for long. Health Canada released a plan last year to overhaul the MMAR and eliminate the right for patients to grow for themselves.
Under the current system, patients with certain illnesses and the support of a physician can apply to Health Canada for a license to grow marijuana. They can also apply for the right to designate someone else to grow it for them, or obtain marijuana grown by Health Canada, according to its website.
The proposed changes would create a new supply and distribution system relying on licensed commercial producers, according to a Health Canada press release. The production of marijuana by individuals would be “phased out.”
The changes are expected to come into effect in 2014, according to Health Canada spokesperson Gary Holub.
Greenline will adjust the seminar to accommodate any changes to the MMAR made by Health Canada, said Schultz. Current designated growers, like the ones who already attend Greenline seminars, may end up getting the commercial licenses, he said.
Along with offering seminars, Greenline also connects patients in need of medical marijuana with growers and doctors willing to prescribe it. The site gets roughly 30 emails a day, Schultz said.
“The main thing is helping patients, when you get as many patients calling as I get, that’s about the only thing that keeps you going,” he said.
