Health Canada Issues Cannabis Regulations

Late last week, Health Canada released the last set of cannabis regulations for additional products such as edibles, extracts, and topicals. While these products won’t be available to consumers until mid-December, manufacturers can begin producing the products beginning October 17th under the Cannabis Act.

Marijuana Ingestibles and Concentrates

Marijuana ingestibles such as food products and beverages are only allowed to contain 10-mg of THC, and there can be no vitamins, minerals, nicotine or alcohol added to these products. Health Canada’s new regulations also mandate the amount of caffeine that can be used when producing cannabis infused edibles and beverages.

Cannabis concentrates are also limited to 10-mg THC limit on ingested extracts, such as cannabis pills, that cannot exceed 1,000 mg of THC per package. Cannabis oils, waxes, and inhaled concentrates are limited to 1,000-mg THC per package. All marijuana extracts must contain no added vitamins, minerals, sweeteners, sugars, caffeine, nicotine or colors.

THC Packaging Limitations

The cannabis regulations also set packaging limitations for liquid ingested and inhaled extracts is 90 ml, and the maximum package size for solid cannabis concentrates is 7.5 grams. The rules set a maximum of 1,000 mg of THC per package for cannabis topicals that can only be used on skin, hair and nails.

Health Canada also want to ensure that all cannabis edibles, extracts and topicals are sold in plain, child-resistant packaging, and must display labels that have the standardized cannabis symbol for any product containing THC, a warning with health risks, the THC and CBD levels, al ingredients and known allergens. For all edible products, the packaging must contain a nutrition facts table.

Producers Need Product Approval

The regulations call for super simple and plain packaging with no branding elements that could relate the product with alcoholic beverages or brands. Additionally, producers cannot include any health or dietary claims on the label and must submit their proposed products for approval 60 days before releasing them into distribution channels.

One of Canada’s licensed producers, Emerald Health Therapeutics, expressed their excitement that Health Canada released the new regulations for ingestibles. VP of communications, Allan Rewak, noted that, “The clarity the final regulatory framework provides is important for Emerald in bringing our new product categories such as vape pens, ingestibles and edibles to market. We applaud the government for providing this certainty today.”