Although Health Canada took a step in the right direction, these revised regulations may not adequately address the needs of all medical cannabis patients, especially when it comes to taxation and cost-coverage.
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In a trickle of empathy from the federal government in Canada, Canadians who are registered as medical marijuana patients will soon be allowed to grow “small quantities” of pot.
A Federal Court judge earlier this year struck down the former Conservative government’s 2013 law requiring medical marijuana patients to get their cannabis from licensed producers instead of growing their own.
These regulations will come into force August 24, 2016.
Modifying that the accuracy of weight and volume of products in packages must now be between 95% and 105%, as opposed to between 95% and 101%.
Judge Michael Phelan said in his February 24 decision those rules that “limited a patient to a single government-approved contractor and eliminated the ability to grow one’s own marijuana or choose one’s own supplier” restricted patient liberties under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Heath Canada points out that “storefronts selling marijuana, commonly known as “dispensaries” and “compassion clubs” remain illegal under the new rules”.
The revised Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations announced today are similar to the previous cannabis regulatory regime, where under the MMAR patients were able to grow at home or designate another grower to produce for them (some of whom are still able to do so under an injunction).
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Health Canada states that “the ACMPR are created to provide an immediate solution required to address the Court judgement”.
