More concerns raised over Saskatoon medicinal marijuana dispensary

A Saskatchewan man has a blunt warning for Saskatoon city council about the marijuanaonsale at a newdispensary in the city.

Fred Glawischnig,an advocatefor the use ofmedicinal marijuana, is an unlikely critic.

Glawischnigis the former head of Canadian Cannabis Solutions,a defunct company that had applied to growindustrial quantities of the drugfor Health Canada.

Hesaid patients who rely on compassion clubs or dispensaries need to take a closer look at what they're ingesting.

Quality control questioned

"They have no quality control or quality assurance regulations," said Glawischnig. "There's no oversight, there's no testingand there's no recall procedure."

He said dispensaries often buy unregulated "overstock"batches from home growers.

"[Licensed medical marijuana]is produced in almost laboratory-typeconditions, it's tested for any pesticide residuals and only Health Canada-approved pesticides can be used," he said.

He said straying from licensed growers muddies the watersfor doctors, who want more scientific research done before agreeing to prescribemedical marijuana.

• Saskatoon man opens city's first medical marijuana dispensary

The man running the city's compassion club on Second Avenue, Mark Hauk, recently told CBCprice and minimum order requirements are problematic for some patients with prescriptions for medicinal marijuana.

Haukalso said supply issues and shipping costs can discourage those carrying so-called "green cards".

Glawischnig doesn't buy it.

"You can order your product via smartphone app, you can order it online, over the telephone," he said. "Ifyou order it in the morning, depending on your proximity to your licensed grower, it'll arrive the next day in the mail."

For their part, he saiddispensaries can't guarantee their product is safe, or legal.

In a letter delivered this week, Glawischnigurged councillorsto rethink dispensaries. In it, he notedSaskatoon has "very little to gain allowing an unlicenceddrug to be sold to anyone in its community."