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Smokers to Go Guerilla as Canada Hikes Medicinal Marijuana Prices

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New laws to be enacted by Canada’s Conservative government are expected to drive some medical marijuana users into the bush, after it was announced that they would no longer be able to grow their own weed.

The new regulations, expected to go into effect next year, will eliminate personal production licences and force users to buy their weed from the government. As a result, prices are expected to rise from around $1.80/gram to $8.80/gram once the new regulations are enforced.

The approximately 28,115 Canadians authorized to use marijuana legally will have to rely on the pricier government-sanctioned commercial producers as opposed growing it themselves or contracting with a designated grower.

Mik Mann, a 55-year-old medical marijuana activist with a personal-grow licence, told the Canadian Press that the new laws would mean drastic changes.

Right now the cost to me growing is probably a dollar a gram. At $8.80 a gram [government prices] it’s pretty clear I won’t be able to afford it. It will leave me without a cheap source of medication.

Health Canada posted the government’s proposal on its website, and public backlash was adamant, if mellow.

The changes are expected to drive users into what’s known as “guerilla growing”, where those who are able turn to illegally planting seeds on lands that don’t belong to them in order to avoid expensive marijuana bills from government suppliers.

Others took issue with the fact that the weed supplied by government growers was sub-par. According to statistics, 13 per cent of all current users buy their supply from commercial growers, as opposed to 64 per cent who grow it themselves or get it from others.

Says Mann:

Is it just going to be what we call ‘commercial weed? If so, I want the chronic high-test stuff myself, not that commercial bunk.

(Via eggrole/Flickr)

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New medical marijuana laws in Canada are expected to drive users into the bush, after it was announced that they would no longer be able to grow their own weed.