The proposed amendments to various cannabis regulations aimed at streamlining requirements and reducing the administrative burden on stakeholders in the legal cannabis industry. The amendments aim to foster a competitive and diverse legal cannabis market while ensuring that public health and safety remain priorities.

Since the enactment of the Cannabis Act, the legal cannabis industry has matured, yielding new insights into the public health and safety risks associated with cannabis. Stakeholders, particularly those licensed under the current regulations, have expressed concerns that some regulatory requirements are overly burdensome and unnecessary for achieving the objectives of public health and safety. These stakeholders have advocated for the reduction or elimination of specific regulatory obligations to promote a more efficient legal market without compromising the foundational goals of the Act. The rationale for these amendments is supported by findings from an independent Expert Panel that conducted a statutory review of the Cannabis Act. The panel recommended that Health Canada reduce the administrative burdens on industry participants while continuing to safeguard public health and safety. This approach aligns with the government’s commitment to ensuring that legal cannabis production effectively displaces the illicit market, promoting a healthy, well-regulated industry.

The proposed amendments focus on five priority areas: licensing, personnel and physical security measures, production requirements, packaging and labeling, and record-keeping and reporting. Health Canada intends to exempt certain organizations and individual researchers from needing a research license when conducting non-human research with up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, facilitating research activities without imposing unnecessary regulatory hurdles. Additionally, the amendments propose to quadruple the cultivation and processing limits for micro-cultivation and micro-processing licenses. The new thresholds would allow micro-cultivators to utilize up to 800 square meters for cultivation and micro-processors to process up to 2,400 kilograms of dried cannabis. This adjustment aims to improve the competitiveness of smaller operators and encourage product diversification within the market.

Moreover, the number of permitted alternate Quality Assurance Persons (QAPs) will increase from two to “one or more,” allowing for better management of workloads while maintaining accountability for compliance with regulatory requirements. Proposed amendments will also enable the intra-industry sale of cannabis pollen among cultivation and research license holders, filling a regulatory gap and fostering genetic development in cannabis plants. In terms of consumer information requirements, licensed processors will no longer be mandated to include printed copies of consumer information documents with every cannabis product package.

By addressing concerns raised by stakeholders and leveraging insights gained since the implementation of the Cannabis Act, these changes represent a strategic effort to support the growth and sustainability of the legal cannabis market in Canada.

Canada (Proposed) June 8, 2024