Canada's legal marijuana farm relocated

FLIN FLON, Manitoba, July 22 (UPI) -- A business disagreement has led to Canada's only legal marijuana farm in a Manitoba zinc mine being moved to a new, undisclosed location, officials said.

The high-security facility operated as a hydroponic farm for nine years in Flin Flon, 435 miles northwest of Winnipeg, in a mine owned by the HudBay mining company.

The farming was done under a 10-year-old contract with Health Canada by Prairie Plant Systems of Saskatchewan. Its president, Brent Zettl, told the newspaper the farm had to be moved because HudBay wouldn't renew the lease. He said Health Canada asked him not to disclose the new farm's location.

HudBay spokesman Tom Goodman said it was a business decision to close the mine permanently.

"It's quite simple, our contract with Prairie Plant has expired," he said. "Things have come to their logical conclusion."

Prairie Plant's $5.7 million contract calls for it to provide 4,100 pounds of marijuana in cigarette and loose form for the 800 people allowed to smoke it legally for health reasons, the report said.