If you’re looking to start up your own high-tech, hydroponic grow operation, a Vancouver auction house may just have some deals on equipment for you.
On Thursday, Able Auctions will be conducting a sale of the equipment belonging to biopharmaceutical firm MediJean, which recently shut the doors to its 20,000-square-foot, high-tech, high-security, licensed grow-op near the RCMP’s main detachment in the Ironwood area, that had planned to develop super strains of marijuana for pharmaceutical use.
Back in late December 2013, the Richmond News reported the company was planning to conduct research to break down marijuana plants to their DNA levels and grow them.
In mid-2014, there were reports the company’s CEO, Jean Chiasson, had, on Twitter, begun attacking his business partners and accusing the firm’s marijuana breeder of theft. There was also a report of a bid to sue Health Canada and the RCMP.
The Richmond RCMP declined to comment on the matter, saying the force does not speak to allegations of legal action.
The tweets were only posted for a brief time before being deleted, with Chiasson claiming his Twitter account had been hacked.
On March 19, 2014, the News reported that Richmond City Council had passed site specific zoning for MediJean’s research and development facility. There was one letter of objection, based on MediJean’s location within an industrial park, but no opposition to the plan, which was unanimously approved by council.
As MediJean proceeded through the process of attaining a producer’s licence from Health Canada, it made efforts to keep a flow of information about its operations in the public eye by conducting tours of the research and development site for media and city officials.
When up and running, the facility was expected to produce 90,000 kilograms of medical marijuana in its first year.
Earlier this year, the operation shut down.
On Thursday, with the building that housed MediJean sold, there is a host of equipment that will be on the auction block.
According to Able Auctions, it will include grow equipment, a wide array of lighting instruments, including LED grow lights, light panels, tube lights and light canopies. There will also be industrial fans, air conditioners, growing trays, and electrical transformers.
Since MediJean was touted as being high-tech in its quest to develop superior strains of marijuana there will also be lab equipment, including some unique pieces of equipment, such as incubators and transilluminators, which are used in molecular biology labs to view DNA (or RNA) that has been separated.
Able Auctions estimated the value of the equipment at around $1 million. Bidding on the lots begins at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
Coun. Linda McPhail said she was among those who toured the facility in 2014 and was impressed with what she saw.
“It looked like a world class facility,” she told the News. “They had obviously spent a lot of money.”
McPhail added she was fascinated in MediJean’s promise of a scientific approach to developing new marijuana strains to enhance its medicinal qualities.
“They seemed on track and had gone through a lot of steps,” she said.
While Coun. Derek Dang did not have the opportunity of seeing first-hand MediJean’s operation, he suggested the company’s failure was linked, in part, to shifting requirements at the federal level, adding there appears to be mixed messages coming from Ottawa on what will be approved.
“And that creates a problem for us (City of Richmond) and what we can enforce and what are our responsibilities. And we want to comply with what the federal regulations are.”
