SMITHERMAN SET TO JOIN POT GAME
Former health minister part of group hoping to open medical marijuana facility in Durham Region,
The province’s former Liberal health minister, George Smitherman, is getting into the pot game with a Markham pharmacist and a former deputy chief of the Toronto police. The trio — a veritable dream team in the medical marijuana industry — secured a property in Durham Region with about 16,000 square feet of serviceable indoor growing space, said Smitherman, and is in the midst of preparing an application. The township of Uxbridge recently passed a motion granting them a “no objection” letter to accompany their application to Health Canada.
“I think that in my time as minister of health I did try to advance a conversation within the Ontario Medical Association and especially within the doctors who focus on pain,” said Smitherman. “I view medical marijuana as an effective alternative for many people, and I think that the science on this will grow and grow and grow.”
Each member of the trio brings skills that will help with the application process, which includes providing a round-the-clock security plan and undergoing regular testing like that at a regular drug production facility.
Smitherman, the lifelong politician who served as Ontario’s minister of health and long-term care from 2003 to 2008, will help the group work with consultants to navigate Health Canada’s new medical marijuana legislation, which licenses businesses to grow marijuana to sell to users who have a prescription.
The legislation is a departure from the old way of doing things, whereby Health Canada served as the middleman for medicinal marijuana users, who were allowed to grow their own plants. Instead, federally approved growers will supply those in the country who rely on medicinal marijuana.
Longtime lawman Kim Derry, who retired as deputy chief of the Toronto Police Service, will be in charge of security for the facility — one of Health Canada’s most stringent requirements. Since his retirement from the force in 2011, Derry has been at the helm of the private security firm Executek International.
The site must have video surveillance and recording capabilities both at the building and the property perimeter. The facility must have an alarm system and rooms where the marijuana is grown or stored must feature controlled access. Personnel must pass a security check with the RCMP.
Kandavel Palanivel, who instigated the whole venture and is its main investor, has been a licensed pharmacist in Canada since 2000. He is accredited to practise at seven pharmacies across the GTA, according to his file with the Ontario College of Pharmacists.
“I like the complementary strengths,” Smitherman said of the group. “The pharmacy network could be a factor in it in a marketing sense, but much more importantly than that, Mr. Palanivel’s very personal interest in plant extraction for human benefit is actually framed from his education. . . . His master’s (degree) was focused very much on extraction of plants for human benefit.”
Smitherman says the group hopes to file its application in the coming weeks — joining hundreds already in the hopper, pending approval. Twelve applications have already been approved and their submitters are growing and supplying marijuana.
Asked what it means when a prominent politician, a retired police officer and a pharmacist enter the marijuana industry, Smitherman praised the federal legislation. “I think it’s a recognition that the government of Canada’s very distinct policy change substantially regulates a production model and accordingly invites the participation of a lot of people and companies who otherwise didn’t have opportunities in this space,” he said.
The federal government estimated in 2013 that the change in legislation could turn medical marijuana into a $1.3-billion industry by 2024.
“The primary investor in all of this is Mr. Palanivel, and obviously people see a business opportunity, but it is a very, very entrepreneurial construct,” said Smitherman. “It is an opportunity but, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, it’s quite a daunting one, I think.”
After an unsuccessful run for the mayor of Toronto in 2010, losing to Rob Ford, Smitherman’s political career appears to be on the back burner. But he says he doesn’t think of himself as a marijuana farmer just yet.
“I’m just someone who’s lending some professional expertise to mount an application,” he said, “but I certainly hope that we’ll be successful and that this business enterprise will be something I can focus a great deal of time on.”