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‘Fake legalisation’?
One year on from legalising recreational cannabis, The Cannavist’s Gordon Stribling finds Canadians
are still struggling to access high-quality legal product, and yes, CBD is Largely still banned.
On October 17, 2018, thousands of
Canadians took to the streets to
celebrate their nation becoming
only the second in the world to
legalise cannabis.
Many have looked to Canada as
a model for UK reform, including
Tottenham MP David Lammy,
who was one of three MPs to
recently visit Canada for a BBC
documentary. However, Canadians
are still struggling to access quality
cannabis legally, one year after the
landmark reform.
Statistics Canada’s recent survey
revealed that since legalisation,
42% of consumers still buy at least
some of their cannabis on the black
market.
Gaining a dispensary license is a
long and expensive process and
supply has so far fallen well short of
demand.
Many medical users have been
forced to use unlicensed dispensaries
to access affordable, high-quality
cannabis medicine. Hundreds of
unlicensed dispensaries have been
raided all over the country.
The market is hugely dominated
by multi-billion-dollar players like
Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis
and Tilray. This has left little room for
the ‘Mom and Pop’ operations that
drove the push for legalisation.
There are also limitations on the
types of products Canadians can
access on the legal market. The
edibles, vapes, extracts and topicals
“The Canadian
model is not
perfect, but it is
high time for the
legal regulation of
cannabis in the UK”
that have dominated the recreational
US market are unlikely to be available
until December this year at the
earliest.
Meanwhile, the rules on where you
can smoke or vape cannabis vary
considerably.
byMinistry, ‘Canada’s first high-end
cannabis lounge’ is set to open
in early 2020. But due to federal
regulations and Ontario’s smoke-free
laws, patrons will not be permitted to
smoke or vape inside, nor will edibles
of cannabis-infused beverages be
served.
The lack of availability, dispensary
raids and former prohibitionists
cashing in on cannabis has led
some advocates to damn Canada’s
approach as ‘New Prohibition’ or
‘Fake Legalisation.’
However, Lammy believes that the
UK could learn a lot from Canada,
saying:
“The Canadian model is not perfect,
but it is high time for the legal
regulation of cannabis in the UK.”
Canada’s approach
to CBD regulation is
different to the UK and US
in one important respect: The law
does not distinguish between CBD
derived from high-THC marijuana
and low-THC industrial hemp. All
cannabis extracts fall under the
2018 Cannabis Act.
Fresh cannabis, dried cannabis,
plants and seeds have been
available to buy from licensed
dispensaries since the law came
into effect on October 17, 2018.
Concentrates, edibles, extracts
and topicals containing CBD are
expected to be legalised later
this year, pending guidance from
Health Canada.