Canadian Cannabis Laws Show Six Years of Evolution
No one expected Canada’s cannabis laws to be perfect from the get-go.
When Canada legalized cannabis for adult use six years ago this week, politicians built in a timeline that ensured that it would be a work in progress.
Edibles and drinks were not made legal until late 2019, and then took a while to find their way to shelves due to regulatory hurdles.
Baby-step changes for things such as online ordering and delivery were walked out provincially with no advance warnings.
Federal laws and regulations were supposed to be re-examined five years later, in 2023.
Health Canada is now finally getting around to changing dozens of regulations governing the sector. It halted consultation on these changes in July, and bureaucrats are readying to “gazette” the new regulations, which is the final process for changing regulations, given that there is no need for Parliament to pass a bill.
The department has estimated that its changes will provide the industry $41 million in administrative and compliance cost savings.
Industry insiders told BIV that they tend to like the changes, though in some cases they said that they would have liked bigger thinking, and a more substantial overhaul.
Read the full article at BIV
