As the first of B.C.’s licensed medical marijuana producers began shipping product from Whistler this week under new federal rules, a number of facilities without Health Canada licences continue to supply customers due to a recent court ruling.

Companies such as Agrima in Maple Ridge would have been in regulatory limbo as of April 1 had a Federal Court judge not granted a temporary injunction last month. The ruling allows licensed medical marijuana users, or their designated growers, to continue supplying their own medicine until the courts decide whether the new rules, requiring patients to buy from a government-approved grower, violate the rights of those who can’t afford it.

Agrima has applied to Health Canada to be a licensed producer, but is awaiting a final inspection, chief operations officer James Poelzer said Tuesday. Because of the court injunction, they are able to continue supplying their current patients as a designated producer under the old rules, he said.

There are other facilities throughout Metro Vancouver in a similar boat, although it is impossible to say exactly how many as lists are not public due to patient confidentiality.

There is confusion in the industry due to the overlapping regulations, Poelzer said. The only way to preserve specific strains of plants was supposed to be to transfer them to a licensed producer before April 1, but given the court injunction, it is unclear whether this is still the case.

“Our patients ... like them, we know how to grow them, and we want to keep those strains going forward,” Poelzer explained.

This confusion was partly responsible for an RCMP seizure of medical marijuana in Kelowna last week, which someone in B.C. was attempting to ship to a licensed grower in Ontario before the April 1 deadline.

To date, Health Canada has authorized 12 medical marijuana producers across the country, four of which are in B.C.: Canna Farms, which lists a Maple Ridge post office box, In the Zone Produce in the Okanagan, ThunderBird Biomedical on Vancouver Island, and Whistler Medical Marijuana. There are between 100 and 200 more that have applied provincewide, according to Health Canada.

tcarman@vancouversun.com

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