Exclusive: Canada eyes tighter rules for grow-your-own
pot producers
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[March 08, 2021] By
Shariq Khan
(Reuters) - Canada's health regulator will
launch a public consultation program on Monday in its draft guidance for
individuals growing medical cannabis at home, hoping to clamp down on
people selling weed on the black market.
In the draft document sent to some industry figures and seen by Reuters
ahead of publication, Health Canada highlights recent police raids and
arrests at production sites where people were using licenses to "cover
and support large-scale illegal production and sale".
The move also comes as Health Canada tries to set right a relatively
unstable official market, where illegal sales are one factor undermining
the business plans of the dozens of producers and distributors set up
over the past five years.
"Abuse of the medical purposes framework undermines the integrity of the
system that many patients and health care practitioners rely on to
access cannabis to address their medical needs," Health Canada said in
the document.
The draft guidance for the first time sets out factors that the
regulator may consider in refusing or revoking a registration for
"personal production". Factors include authorization of unjustified
amounts and "criminal activity and/or diversion of cannabis".
Health Canada could not be immediately reached for comment.
Canada in 2018 was the first major country to legalize cannabis but its
programs have since run into a myriad of troubles.
Households spent more than C$3.1 billion buying non-medical pot from
illicit channels last year versus C$2.9 billion of legal purchases,
according to Statistics Canada data.
Graphic: Black markets plague Canadian cannabis - https://graphics.reuters.com/CANADA-CANNABIS/nmovazxjmpa/chart.png
In January, Ontario Provincial Police seized over 180,000 cannabis
plants and numerous vehicles and firearms by raiding illegal cultivation
facilities, many of which exploit Health Canada's personal medical weed
cultivation licenses.
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An undated handout photo shows cannabis after the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP) said on September 9, 2020 it had arrested four
men who used a low-flying helicopter to avoid detection of the
illegal transport of cannabis from Canada into the U.S., in the
Greater Toronto area, Canada. RCMP/Handout via REUTERS
Under the rules, people using cannabis for medical purposes must get a daily
amount authorized by medical care practitioners - doctors, nurses and social
workers - to either be bought from official retailers or grown personally.
Health Canada said in December it was seeing a surge in the amount of pot
personal cultivators were being authorized to grow.
Personal cultivators are allowed to grow as much as 36 grams per day on average,
compared with just 2 grams authorized for daily purchase from retailers.
Graphic: Canada's personal production authorizations surge - https://tmsnrt.rs/3brBOTm
Health Canada will invite "interested stakeholders" to comment in the public
consultation, expected to run for 60 days through May 7, with the aim of
improving the programs' operation and judging what factors it should consider
when assessing risks to public health, the guidance said.
After the end of the two-month period, the regulator plans to finalize the
guidance and make it public.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing Bernard Orr and Saumyadeb
Chakrabarty)
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