Competition Bureau Canada recommends easing rules for recreational cannabis

Competition Bureau Canada has published a report recommending some changes to Canada's cannabis laws. The report, made public last Friday, forms part of a legislative review of Canada's cannabis law. 

After 5 years in force, the Canadian legislation that regulated the consumption of recreational cannabis in its most diverse forms will undergo a legislative review. In a report published on Friday, the Canadian Competition Authority issued a series of recommendations aimed at trying to alleviate some of the problems plaguing the industry in Canada.

Competition Bureau Canada recommended the federal government to consider easing restrictive rules regarding cannabis packaging and increasing the amount of psychoactive ingredients allowed in edible products, in order to help the industry prosper and fight the black market, while maintaining control over public health.

Although over 1.000 companies are currently licensed to produce or sell cannabis in Canada, many have since gone bankrupt and few have been profitable. At the same time, the black market continues to thrive, catering to customers whose licit industry fails to reach, particularly due to complicated regulation.

The Agency's recommendations to the government

• The first recommendation is an adjustment to the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that can be included in a serving of edible cannabis;
• The second is to ease restrictions on product promotion, packaging and labeling, allowing sellers to better inform consumers about the differences between products;
• The final recommendation is to review the licensing process and costs related to licensing, with the aim that these are not intrusive to competition.

You can view the document in full below:
Planting-the-Seeds-for-Competition_CB-Submission-to-Health-Canada_EN_v4