The amended regulations which will legalize the New Products will come into force on October 17, 2019. However, the New Products will not be available until mid-December, 2019 at the earliest.
This is due to a legislative requirement that Federally licensed processors notify Health Canada 60 days before they make a new product available for sale. Health Canada has indicated that it will not begin accepting such notifications until October 17, 2019. That being said, licensed processors can begin manufacturing and stock-piling the New Products now, provided that they meet the more onerous requirements of the amended regulations, notwithstanding that they are not yet in force.
The rules around the New Products are voluminous. Far too much so to cover in this publication. However, the key takeaways at a high level include:
(a)the regulations will establish clear limits on amount of THC permitted in each product. Edible products will be limited to 10mg of THC per package, ingest-able extracts will be limited to 10mg of THC per unit/ dispensed amount and 1000 mg of THC per package, inhaled extracts will be limited to 1000mg of THC per package and topicals will be limited to 1000mg of THC per package;
(b)there will be a prohibition on the manufacture of cannabis products in the same facility where traditional food products are manufactured;
(c)edible products may not have any added vitamins or minerals, nicotine or alcohol added and there are limits on the amount of caffeine that may be added;
(d)ingest-able extracts may not have any added vitamins or minerals, nicotine, caffeine, sugars, sweeteners or colours;
(e)inhaled extracts may not have any added vitamins or minerals, nicotine or alcohol, caffeine, sugars, colours or sweeteners;
(f)topicals may not have any added nicotine or alcohol and may only be used on skin, hair and nails and may not be used on eyes or damaged skin; and
(g)in addition to the foregoing, specific rules on packaging, labeling and promotion will be implemented for the various new product types.