NEW RULES FOR HOMEGROWN PLANTS
As of Aug. 24, the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) replace the 2013 Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), which replaced the 2001 Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR).
The new rules set out a framework for commercial production by licensed producers, like the MMPR, but like the former MMAR, allows patients to produce a “limited amount” for their own use or designate someone to grow it for them.
The 34 licensed producers will be the only legal source of “starting materials” — seeds and plants.
People who want to use medical cannabis still have to get a document from an authorized health-care practitioner specifying a period of use of up to one year and a daily quantity of marijuana in grams.
Authorized patients can then register to buy from a licensed producer or with Health Canada to grow their own or have someone else grow for them. That person — who can’t have a drug offence on their record in the past decade — can grow for a total of two people.
How much patients can grow and store is based on how much they’re prescribed, with every gram of dried marijuana prescribed translating into five plants indoors or two outdoors.
Outdoor home-growers can’t be adjacent to a school, public playground, daycare or public place mainly frequented by children.
Law enforcement can continue to call a 24-hour number to verify that marijuana is being grown legally.
Storefront dispensaries and compassion clubs are still illicit, says Health Canada, noting they’re “illegally supplied” and provide unregulated products that “may be unsafe.”
Health Canada suggests security measures for home growers including a tall fence with a locking gate or alarm system outdoors, strong locks on indoor areas where marijuana is produced or stored and childproof storage.
The health agency also advises enough ventilation on indoor grows to prevent mould on plants or the building, that electrical work be done by licensed professionals and that pesticides be safe for plants to be eaten or vaporized and that people talk to their health-care provider about “the potential health risks associated with smoking or otherwise consuming cannabis.”