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Health Canada: No new marijuana beverage rules before fall 2022
Canadian marijuana companies awaiting a potentially major regulatory overhaul that could pump new life into the country’s fledgling infused beverage market will have to wait a bit longer.
Canada’s federal health department told MJBizDaily that proposed changes to regulations that would effectively increase the amount of cannabis beverage consumers could purchase at any one time by more than eightfold aren’t expected to be ready until fall – at the earliest.
Some businesses had been hoping the proposed change would be rolled out before summer, but the government now says that won’t happen until at least the fall.
“I can’t think of any stakeholder across the cannabis supply chain, from producers to retailers, that would be pushing back against this regulation,” Paul Weaver, head of cannabis at Boston Beer Co., told MJBizDaily.
“As far as regulations changes go to cannabis in Canada, the hanging fruit doesn’t get any lower than this. It’s a pretty straight-forward fix that everyone wants.
“It would have been great to have something in time for summer. This is really the first summer where cannabis beverages are starting to have an opportunity to shine.”
Currently, the “equivalency rates” for cannabis possession limits in Canada mean an individual can possess only 2.1 liters (71 ounces) of cannabis-infused beverages – or about five standard-sized cans.
In March, the government proposed increasing the dried cannabis equivalency for cannabis beverages so that 1 gram of dried cannabis is equal to 570 grams of cannabis beverages.
That would have the effect of raising the public possession limit for cannabis beverages for an adult to 17.1 liters – or 48 standard-sized beverage cans.
“Health Canada is in the process of analyzing the results of the public consultation … to inform the development of the final regulatory amendments,” a spokesperson for the federal cannabis regulator told MJBizDaily via email.
After the analysis is completed and the final regulatory package is prepared, Health Canada said it will submit the proposal for consideration by the Treasury Board and approval by the Governor in Council before it comes into force.
“It is not anticipated that this will be completed before fall 2022,” the spokesperson noted.
The 45-day public consultation ran from March through April 26.
Health Canada said it received 83 total submissions from a variety of stakeholders, including researchers, public health organizations, provincial stakeholders, the general public, cannabis license holders and industry associations.
Industry’s view
Boston Beer’s Weaver welcomed the progress.
“There is movement on it, so that is encouraging to hear,” he said in a phone interview.
Weaver expects the new rules, if implemented, would be good for businesses such as his.
“By expanding how many (beverages) an individual consumer can buy, the most passionate beverage cannabis consumers can use that format exclusively as opposed to the need to augment (consumption) with other form factors or coming into the dispensary once a week,” Weaver said.
“So we’re trying to create purchase behaviors and those types of purchase habits for loyal consumers.”
The new rules would not change the maximum limit of 10 milligrams of THC per container.
The public consultation involved the piloting of a new online consultation feature, where stakeholder comments may now be viewed.
Canadian cannabis producer Tilray Brands wants to be able to sell multipacks of beverages with various flavors, but such an opportunity would require a further change to the regulations.
“This would help promote better sales of beverages in the legal cannabis industry as consumers could purchase a mixed pack to sample various flavors offered by a License Holder,” according to the New York-based company’s submission.
Other proposals
The government is also proposing to allow researchers to use Good Production Practices (GPP)-compliant cannabis rather than solely relying on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-compliant cannabis.
Since a relatively small percentage of Canadian cannabis is produced according to GMP standards, that would mean more supply is available for testing.
According to the proposal, current barriers to research “may result in both researchers being unable to use grants received for cannabis research, and funding bodies deciding not to offer grants for cannabis research, which could create a risk of researchers choosing to pursue their work outside of Canada.”
The proposed amendments would exempt nontherapeutic cannabis research involving human subjects from the clinical trial requirements under the Food and Drug Regulations, “where that research is conducted under a cannabis research license issued under the Cannabis Regulations.”
Most of the public comments were in favor.
In its submission, Alberta-based cannabis producer Sundial noted that the proposed changes are positive and supported.
“Enabling access to non-therapeutic research for GPP compliant products already widely available on the market will allow licence holders to better understand the effects of these products,” Sundial wrote in its submission.
“Additional regulatory updates are needed to allow licence holders to publish this information, in a context that relates to products, or product attributes, to further incentivize collection of information and distribution to Canadians.”
The proposed changes are available here.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/health-canada-plansno-new-cannabis-beverage-regulations-before-fall-2022/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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