Canada: edibles to arrive one year after legalization

Canada is currently fine-tuning its cannabis regulation project. Still scheduled for July 2018, the future legalizing cannabis in Canada will allow any adult of legal age to possess up to 30 grams of weed in public, and each household will be able to grow up to 4 plants.

However, some points of the regulation were not immediately fixed, and the Canadian authorities are continuing to amend it.

This is particularly true of edibles, cannabis-infused foods. In the end, the government opted to postpone their arrival on the market for a year after legalization, to allow time for the creation of an appropriate regulatory system.

Don Davies, member of the New Democratic Party of Canada and responsible for the Health theme, who presented 37 amendments to the bill. Bill C-45, is disappointed by this decision. «The evidence was simply too clear that the edibles, concentrates and non-smokable forms of cannabis should be legally sold and regulated now. There are a dozen reasons why this should be done, and zero reasons against. That's why it's frustrating and incomprehensible that the Liberals won't move on this.

For Don Davies, Canada could very well introduce legal edibles, The company's strategy is based on the U.S. experience of states that have already legalized cannabis. «Colorado has mature and well thought-out regulations on edibles, we could simply take them back almost as they are.»

The other point on which the government has compromised is the size limit for home-grown plants. Originally, the text was intended to limit plants to a height of 1m, a rule that was difficult to apply in reality and difficult to understand. «There was no reason for the 1m limit,» says Davies. We would have seen police inspecting plants with a measuring tape, and sanctioning 1m01 plants. Or gardeners growing horizontally rather than vertically to comply with the rules while letting their plants grow.

Don Davies also suggested removing the 30g public possession limit. «I don't understand why you're a good citizen if you have 29g on you, but a criminal liable to 14 years in prison if you have 31g. If you grow 4 plants at home, you could be in possession of 400 to 500 grams, so why would you be a criminal if you leave home with 45 grams?».

And continues. «Let's say you have 4 plants at home, you harvest and you have 300 grams of cannabis, and you move. You make what, 10 trips with your car?».