Health Canada’s
Drastic Overhaul
of the Licensing System
Matt Maurer, LLB
On May 8, 2019, Health Canada announced, without prior warning, that it would be introducing changes “to align the approach to cannabis licensing with the approach for other regulated sectors, such as pharmaceuticals.”
In particular, Health Canada announced that, effective immediately, it would require all new applicants for licenses to cultivate cannabis, process cannabis or sell cannabis for medical purposes to have a fully built site that meets all of the requirements of the legislation at the time of the application.
Existing applications will receive a high-level review by the regulator and Health Canada will advise if there are any concerns with what is proposed in the application.
Health Canada conducted an internal review which revealed that more than 70% of applicants who had passed Health Canada’s initial paper-based review of their application over the past three years had not submitted their evidence package to demonstrate to the government that they have a built facility that meets the regulatory requirements. As a result of this, the government felt that it was expending significant resources on the review of applications from entities who were not ready to begin operations, contributing to wait times for more mature applications and an inefficient allocation of resources.
While there is really only one change being implemented, it is a significant one. Here are some of the key takeaways:
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