Health Canada announced changes to medical-marijuana regulations Wednesday allowing the sale of oil and fresh buds where previously only dried pot for smoking was legal.
Medical-marijuana users and their advocates welcomed the changes, but remain critical of a system they say is too complex and involves too much red tape.
Kirk Tousaw, a Duncan-based lawyer with years of experience advocating on behalf of medical-marijuana users, said the rules are still top-heavy and bureaucratic.
“I call it a small step forward,” Tousaw said. “But unfortunately, it still leaves a lot to be desired.”
Health Canada said licensed producers can now sell extracts such as cannabis oils, used to make things like cookies, as well as fresh marijuana buds and leaves. They must follow the same packaging and labelling requirements as for dried marijuana.
It’s a swift response to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling last month that struck down as unconstitutional regulations that previously made illegal forms such as cannabis oils, extracts or edibles like cookies.
But Health Minister Rona Ambrose suggested the government acted only because it was forced to do so by the court.
“[Health Canada] will implement what the Supreme Court has said,” Ambrose said at an unrelated event in Edmonton. “But their first, top-of-line message is, ‘Marijuana is not a medicine.’
“It’s important that Canadians understand that marijuana is not an approved drug in Canada or an approved medicine.”
In June, the nation’s top court ruled existing regulations restricting medical-marijuana possession to dried pot violated the Charter of Rights in part because anyone possessing other forms of cannabis was at risk of going to jail.
Since ways of using dried pot are limited, users were forced to choose a treatment that might be less effective or even dangerous to comply with the law.
The ruling created confusion, however, as to whether it gave people the right to sell products made from marijuana, such as butters or brownies.
The new regulations allow licensed producers to sell cannabis oil or fresh leaves or buds. But they can’t turn it into other products, such as lotions, butters or baked goods.
The new regulations do, however, allow authorized medical-marijuana patients to take the oil or fresh buds home and make their own brownies or other products. Previously, that was forbidden.
Greg Engel, head of Tilray, a licensed producer in Nanaimo, welcomed the change.
“It’s great news,” said Engel, adding his company is now consulting with Health Canada and hopes to soon be producing cannabis oil.
James Whitehead, owner of Gorge Cannabis Dispensary, said the regulation changes will make it easier for patients who use medical marijuana in edible forms, such as cookies.
Whitehead said many people, especially those with reduced lung function, can’t smoke marijuana, so the dried substance is of little use to them.
One problem, however, is that the handful of licensed producers in Canada have not been able to keep up with demand or the various forms demanded by users, he said.
So cannabis dispensaries such as Whitehead’s, along with compassion clubs, have sprung up to fill the void, including 11 in Victoria at a recent count.
But Health Canada repeated in its directive Wednesday that these dispensaries are still considered illegal.
Nevertheless, last month, Vancouver became the first Canadian municipality to regulate medical-marijuana dispensaries. They pay a $30,000 licensing fee and must locate 300 metres away from community centres or schools.
Victoria council has indicated it is interested in following Vancouver’s lead.
Meanwhile, Tousaw, a lawyer whose arguments at the Supreme Court of Canada helped lead to the latest ruling, said all the rules and regulations are just foolish.
He said if the government were serious about allowing patients access to medical marijuana and abiding by the spirit of the Supreme Court of Canada decisions, it would decriminalize pot, which could then be sold with warnings and quality controls.
“When will the government simply drop its heavy-handed regulatory approach and let the market figure this out?” Tousaw asked.
