[420 Girl]

REGINA — Pitching everything from medicinal marijuana in powdered form to mobile carwash machines, about a dozen Saskatchewan entrepreneurs paraded their wares before a production team for CBC's Dragon's Den reality TV show on Thursday.

The audition, held at Queensbury Centre at Evraz Place, was part of a tour of more than 40 cities across the country to find contestants for the show's sixth season.

"We've already seen some people that we're definitely going to book and invite to Toronto,'' said Lindsey Neely, an associate producer with CBC Television.

Morris Johnson of Beaubier in southeastern Saskatchewan is hoping the exposure on Dragon's Den will help take his hemp-based health food product to the next level.

Johnson said the product, Extend Life Span Naturally, which is essentially powdered hemp, is similar to medical marijuana, but without the THC, the psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis plant.

"The chemical profile enables it to act as an anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, preventative nutraceutical,'' Johnson said.

"It's direct competition to high-value medical marijuana products from pharmaceutical companies, which are either on the market or nearing entry to the market.''

But Johnson says his product costs far less than his competitors. "Our retail price is less than their cost of production, so we're faster, better cheaper.''

And it's 'greener' because Johnson grows the hemp using continuous cropping and agri-forestry techniques, "all the things that capture carbon. It's very simple to produce so it requires very little energy.''

He's hoping his powdered hemp product will win the $100,000 'Greenvention' prize, sponsored by Sun Chips, for having the most "eco-friendly business, invention or idea."

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