Hemp, not marijuana, was growing in P.E.I. borage fields

By Nancy MacPhee
Source: journalpioneer.com


An RCMP officer walks through a field of borage in Stanchel after 
suspect cannabis sativa plants were found in early August. Tests have 
confirmed that the plants were hemp.


Testing of suspect plants complete; case closed, say RCMP


Tests have confirmed that plants found in fields of borage in Prince County earlier this summer were hemp, not marijuana.

The case is now closed and charges are not expected, said Cpl. Andy Cook, with the Prince District Joint Forces Drug Unit on Tuesday.

“You have to have a license to grow hemp. Technically, it is illegal to possess it. With possession you have to prove knowledge, it is portion of the intent,” said Cook. “There is no knowledge in this case. It is just an accident.”

In July, the first suspect plants were discovered in the Travellers Rest area. At that time, RCMP speculated that wind carried seed from an illegal marijuana grow operation to the farmers’ fields, resulting in sporadic growth of the plants.

More suspect plants were later discovered, first in another field in Travellers Rest and then among 60 acres of borage on Norman Cairns’ Stanchel farm.

RCMP confirmed, at that time, that borage seed containing cannabis sativa was the culprit behind the discovery of the suspected marijuana plants.

Technology Crops International of Kensington provided the suspect seed to its borage farmers, not knowing that it potentially contained cannabis sativa — or, more commonly known as marijuana and hemp.

Borage is an oilseed crop grown largely on P.E.I. by Technology Crops International.

The company, based in Margate, had purchased the seed from a Saskatchewan-based company, the name of which neither it or the RCMP would reveal.

“It was all hemp, with very low THC levels. It has been all removed from our fields, because we don’t like any contamination in our seed,” said Steve Howatt, a senior vice-president with a division of the company, Nature’s Crop, on Tuesday. “We are working with the growers to make sure the fields are clean and then we will be harvesting the fields and further cleaning if there are any seeds that make it into our borage crop, as we would if it was wheat or soybean or any other contaminant.”

Howatt admitted the situation has been “a massive inconvenience” to his company, adding they are working with the seed provider to avoid anything like this happening again in the future and to determine if there will be compensation made to Technology Crops International.

Cook said that the more than 6,000 suspect plants that were harvested by the RCMP would be destroyed once a destruction order from Health Canada is received.