International

Canada: Growth in personal medical cannabis cultivation worries health regulator

Published

5 years ago

December 19, 2020

Photo: DR

The Canadian health regulator, Health Canada, expressed some concerns about the large amount of medical cannabis that people are growing at home. The data demonstrate an increase in the average daily production allowed by health professionals.

The regulator's findings show that 43.211 individuals were allowed to grow cannabis for their personal medical use by the end of September, out of a pool of 377.024 individuals registered as patients.

While doctors may allow registered patients to grow a limited amount at home for their personal use, the regulator reveals that such permits increased to 36,2 grams at the end of March, compared to 25,2 grams in October 2018. Pharmacies and producers suffer from this measure, as average purchases by registered patients, who can buy cannabis from licensed producers and federal medical vendors, have been a paltry 2 to 2,1 grams per month, the data show.

“An initial review of the data signals to me a noticeable difference in the average amounts prescribed per day across the two different channels,” said Deepak Anand, CEO of Ventures Matter. Discussion over limits on production for personal use is putting Canadian health regulator Health Canada under increasing pressure to interfere with the home-grown program.

“Health Canada is concerned that high daily authorized amounts are, in some cases, leading to an abuse of access to medical cannabis and sabotaging the integrity of the system,” the regulator said.

CBC News reported in October that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) raided dozens of illegal cannabis-growing operations between July and October, most of which were authorized for personal production. “It is still unclear whether we are dealing with systemic or isolated issues, as a result of the tremendous pressure the regulator has recently come under from provincial and municipal governments,” said Anand.

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[Disclaimer: Please note that this text was originally written in Portuguese and is translated into English and other languages using an automatic translator. Some words may differ from the original and typos or errors may occur in other languages.]

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Antonio João Costa

I am one of the directors of CannaReporter, which I founded together with Laura Ramos. I am from the unique Island of Madeira, where I currently reside. While I was in Lisbon at FCUL studying Physical Engineering, I became involved in the national hemp and cannabis scene and participated in several associations, some of which I am still a member of. I follow the global industry and especially legislative advances regarding the different uses of cannabis.

I can be contacted by email at joao.costa@cannareporter.eu