Wayne Jory didn’t know what was wrong. It started two years ago with an odd, lingering taste in the back of his mouth. He was lethargic with out of the norm mood swings. The 55-year-old Murray River carpenter was unable to work, and then there was the unexplained weight loss from his steady 215 pounds to 170.
But finding a cause proved elusive for he and his doctor. Tests for the most obvious potential afflictions all came back negative.
Life became a mysterious struggle that almost cost him his 20 plus year marriage to his wife Jo.
On January 9, 2017 New Brunswick medicinal marijuana producer Organigram issued a voluntary recall on product produced between February 1 and December 16, 2016. According to the company, trace amounts of pesticides were found in what was supposed to be certified organic marijuana.
When Jory learned of the recall a light bulb went off, the chemicals discovered would not show up in routine blood work and he had been an Organigram customer for close to a year. He was one of the first in line for medicinal marijuana as he sought relief from constant back pain, the result of a squished disk. Marijuana seemed a better option than the morphine or Percocet he had been using.
And for the first couple months there were no negative symptoms, the pot numbed the pain while acting as an anti-inflammatory. But then his downward health spiral began and his symptoms worsened while he continued to Vape or eat Organigram (he does not smoke it) product. He applied to Health Canada under the federal Access to Information Act for results of tests conducted on batches of Organigram marijuana. Rather than data he received documents with masses of data blacked out. Health Canada deemed it confidential corporate information.
What Jory did learn is that he is not alone. Hundreds of Canadians share his suspicion that tainted product negatively impacted their health. They banded together in a class action lawsuit against Organigram. For its part the company contends contaminant levels were insufficient to harm humans.
Jory and his group, however, point to their own independent data that disputes the company line. From their membership they collected eight samples, seven of which were still under factory seal. Results show levels of several toxins far in excess of levels deemed safe for human consumption.
As a result of the quality control breach, Organigram lost its organic certification. Last month it wrote former customers to ‘apologize for the inconvenience’ and acknowledge ‘shaken trust’ and outline actions it is taking to ‘regain your confidence.’
The company has offered Jory a $600 credit for future purchases. “I don’t want to buy off Organigram again,” he says, noting he now legally grows five marijuana plants. Since stopping use of the company’s product more than a year ago Jory’s health has slowly improved. He has put on weight and is gradually returning to work.
It is unclear how long it will take for the legal action to wind its way through the justice system. But it is clear there was a significant breach of protocol at an organic medicinal marijuana production facility, owned by a company making a major push into the recreational marijuana market. It is also clear there are opposing views about the seriousness of the public health risk.
For Islanders this is not just a case of an individual with a beef against a company. It’s an issue for all of us. On January 16 of this year the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the MacLauchlan government to supply it at least one million grams of recreational marijuana annually.
Finance Minister Heath MacDonald is quoted in a press release on the Organigram website as saying “The province is very pleased to partner with Organigram in securing a safe supply of cannabis for the PEI market.”
What the province doesn’t say is how it knows the product will be safe. What due diligence did it complete in the narrow time frame between when the federal government announced legalization of recreational use last spring and the signing of the MOU? Did we just take the company’s word for it? Did we raise alarm bells about the lawsuit? Did we ask for independent data to corroborate company assertions?
The Organigram deal is not the only pot agreement raising eyebrows. The majority of government purchased marijuana, three million grams per year, will be supplied by a company called Canada’s Island Garden. In January, owner Edwin Jewell, a respected Island businessman, agreed to sell a controlling interest of 75 per cent of his company to American tobacco firm Alliance One of North Carolina. The deal was announced in early February, but negotiations, according to a story in The Financial Post, began in November.
The MacLauchlan government was aware of the impending sale, but made no mention of it. There is nothing illegal or nefarious about the transaction – other than awful optics. Jewell will remain company president. But make no mistake about it, an American tobacco company now controls the majority of marijuana supply being sourced by the PEI government. At a minimum Islanders should have known it before the contract was signed.
The history of the American tobacco industry is one of acting, almost without exception, in self-interest and with disregard for truth or public interest.
Island taxpayers now lie in a contractual bed with the industry.
One of the reasons the provincial government offered for requiring separate retail outlets for pot (it would never acknowledge patronage as a motivator) is so as not to sell both alcohol and marijuana in the same store. The premier claims government decisions are based on ensuring public safety.
Well the PEI Liquor Commission is throwing that idea out the window. In Montague it has chosen a location in the same retail complex as its liquor outlet. Walk out of the liquor store, stumble past a Dollarama and voilà you’re there. Government’s retail store is literally just steps away. No need to even change parking spots. The only one happier than double-dipping customers is the landlord who doubles up on a long-term rental.
Monday Minister MacDonald said government is doing all it can to ensure a system that the public can trust, including having Health PEI work closely with Health Canada on monitoring. “There are many opinions on this. I firmly believe we as a province must regulate this before it becomes normalized,”
Here’s the reality. This is what happens when government is forced to create a whole new system in a very short time. Prime Minister Trudeau hit the rush button on marijuana legalization and set off a Wild West stampede among provincial governments, all of which jumped at the opportunity to create a whole new bureaucracy.
Premier MacLauchlan’s assertion that public safety and interest are driving the bus is nothing but a political talking point. We already knew that from government’s disregard of a Canadian Medical Association recommendation to set the legal age to purchase recreational marijuana at 21 and limit dosage to those under 25. The reason is due to a growing mountain of scientific evidence on the potential for cognitive impairment in still developing brains.
Government’s overriding motivator is speed, greed and maximizing tax benefit to government.
Wayne Jory knows what can happen when slick promises are not met. Now we are supposed to trust suppliers of recreational marijuana that they will always act in our best interest. We are supposed to trust Health Canada, which also oversees the medicinal marijuana industry, to ensure the purity of the recreational product produced. And we’re supposed to trust the provincial government that it will always put the safety of Islanders first.
Unfortunately, through its own actions, that is a promise already broken
