USA/CANADA: CHAIRMAN OF CANADA'S MEDICAL CANNABIS INC WANTS TO SEE HIS COMPANY GO PUBLIC AND WATCH HIS STOCK GO 'SKY HIGH'

Record ID: 753684

  • Title: USA/CANADA: CHAIRMAN OF CANADA'S MEDICAL CANNABIS INC WANTS TO SEE HIS COMPANY GO PUBLIC AND WATCH HIS STOCK GO 'SKY HIGH'
  • Date: 24th November 2003
  • Summary: (L!2) TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA (NOVEMBER 24, 2003) (REUTERS) SOUNDBITE (English) WARREN EUGENE, CHAIRMAN OF MEDICAL CANNABIS, INC., SAYING: "This flower power has a new opportunity for resurgence. This is what really interested me. I do have a vested interest in this company, whereby I have my financial interests at stake and at risk in a plant, but this plant has such a
  • Embargoed: 9th December 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TORONTO, ONTARIO; UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, ONTARIO, CANADA/ WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: Canada
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA2IJ2WKEA4QZ8314TAO9JBFR1H
  • Story Text: Chairman of Canada's Medical Cannabis Inc. wants to see his company go public, and watch his stock go sky high.
    Twenty-seven year old Marisa (ma-RIHSS-ah) Zaza (ZAH-zah) has just been licensed by the Canadian government to receive medical marijuana. She smokes it to relieve severe pain, and swelling caused by an inoperable breast lump she's had for almost 9 years.
    Though she has consulted with doctors at some of the world's most notable medical facilities in Sloan-Kettering hospital and the Mayo Clinic, and she's been prescribed powerful pain-killers like "Tylenol 3" and morphine - she says that the medicines made her more sick. Only when she smoked marijuana did she feel better.
    "I wasn't able to keep any food down. So I would end up smoking a bowl, or smoking a joint to try to calm the nausea that the pain killer would cause, and I ended up realising that I slowed down my intake of my Tylenol, and upped my intake of marijuana, and that would actually get me up and out of bed," Zaza told Reuters.
    Even though Zaza is now licensed under recently relaxed Canadian law to legally obtain marijuana, getting what she wanted wasn't always easy or safe. She says that quality of what she could buy off the street often varied, and the process of shopping for it used energy she could not afford to spare.
    "I'm too sick to have to fight for my rights to decide how I kill my pain. And it really sucks that some one in a suit, a whole bunch of committee of people in suits are deciding how I kill my pain. It's almost inhumane. So, they'll allow me to take as much morphine as I want, to the point where I can actually to take the whole bottle to kill myself, but they won't allow me to smoke a joint," Zaza said about the process.
    But the marijuana laws and market are changing in Canada. In recent years, the government decriminalised some medical marijuana use, and even started producing some of its own. In October, Canadian courts ruled that businesses and individuals be allowed to grow and supply medical marijuana. And legislation, currently under consideration, may allow Canadians to possess up to 15 grams of non-medical marijuana.
    The relaxation of the laws may open up a market.
    Marijuana "users," often known for a culture of their own, may now be sought-after "consumers."
    Warren Eugene is the Chairman of Medical Cannabis Inc.
    He's building up an production infrastructure, and says he's working to get his company publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
    "This flower power has a new opportunity for resurgence. This is what really interested me. I do have a vested interest in this company, whereby I have my financial interests at stake and at risk in a plant, but this plant has such a history, and such an essence to it.
    Such a fragrance that's ready to bloom, and bleed into the marketplace, so to speak, and produce an elaborate and remarkable return for investors," Eugene said.
    It's got potent potential. Eugene, who pioneered on-line gambling in Canada, says there's a cash crop of Canadian dollars to be harvested, even if investors will watch the product go up in smoke.
    "From the taxable advantage, we're talking about two to five billion dollars - that's billion dollars worth of new money - so new income stream coming into the economy. That can solve a lot of problems in this Canadian economy, and as well as international economies. These are large numbers. Instead of the money going into syndicate crime families, and, or other groups who are nefarious. This can now be placed into the hands of both the public and the government. This is a very wise choice," Eugene says.
    Marisa Zaza agrees, and says that legitimate marijuana commerce will not just help people like her, but all of Canadian society.
    "Having some place safe to go and buy it is the utmost important important thing we need to get on our plate right now. We have one of the best health care systems. This is the next step in order to further our growth as a country, as being Canada, as being the liberal country that we are."
    Eugene says if his Canadian operation lights up, he'll work to spark cross-listings in U.S., Australian, and New Zealand stock markets.
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