Government of Canada Tables Final Report of the Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act

OTTAWA, ON, March 21, 2024 /CNW/ - In 2018, the Government of Canada introduced the Cannabis Act, which put into place a legal framework that takes a comprehensive public health approach to cannabis. The Cannabis Act is designed to protect the health and safety of Canadians while keeping cannabis out of the hands of youth and profits out of the hands of organized crime.

In accordance with the Act, the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health and the Honourable Ya'ara Saks, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health released the final report of the Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act.

This final report is the result of the extensive work conducted by the independent Expert Panel, chaired by Morris Rosenberg, that led the review over the last 18 months. The report provides an independent assessment on progress made towards achieving the Act's objectives to protect the health and safety of Canadians and displace the illegal market.

Since the launch of the review in September 2022, the Expert Panel engaged extensively with a wide range of cannabis stakeholders to better understand the impacts of the cannabis legislative framework and the challenges and opportunities that exist within the sector. The panel held nearly 140 engagement sessions and heard from over 600 participants. They met with the public, other levels of government, people who access cannabis for medical purposes, youth, the cannabis industry, law enforcement, marginalized and racialized communities, and public health experts. They also undertook distinctions-based engagement activities with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis to further understand the impacts of cannabis and the Cannabis Act on Indigenous persons and communities.

The report found that there has been significant progress made on several of the key objectives of the legislation including:

• the establishment of a licensing framework supporting a legal industry that is providing adult consumers with a quality-controlled supply of a variety of cannabis products
• steady progress in shifting adult consumers to the legal cannabis market
• for the most part, adherence to rules on promotion, packaging and labelling, including prohibitions about making claims about health or lifestyle benefits
• a significant reduction (95% between 2017 and 2022) in the number of charges for the possession of cannabis and minimizing the negative impact on some individuals from interactions with the criminal justice system

The report identifies 54 recommendations and 11 observations to strengthen and improve the administration of the Act.

Health Canada is currently reviewing and analyzing the Expert Panel's findings and will provide recommendations on next steps to the Minister, who will continue to work closely with other implicated federal departments, the provinces and territories, Indigenous persons and communities, partners and stakeholders.

"I would like to thank Chair Rosenberg and the members of the Expert Panel for their enormous effort and dedication in leading the first-ever Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act. The legalization and regulation of cannabis is a complex policy issue that affects many parts of our society. While the Panel's mandate is now complete, their work will have a lasting contribution to our ongoing efforts to improve Canada's cannabis control framework."

The Honourable Mark Holland
Minister of Health

"Thank you to the entire Expert Panel for your hard work and dedication in completing this extensive review of the Cannabis Act and thank you to all the Canadians who participated. This final report will be instrumental in helping to inform our government's continued progress in minimizing the public health and public safety risks associated with cannabis, especially for young Canadians."

The Honourable Ya'ara Saks
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health

• The Cannabis Act came into force on October 17, 2018, putting in place a new, strictly regulated framework for controlling the sale, possession, production and distribution of cannabis.
• The legislative review assessed the progress made towards achieving the Act's objectives, and evaluated:
  • Economic, social and environmental impacts of the Act;
  • Progress towards providing adults with access to strictly regulated, lower risk, legal cannabis products;
  • Progress made in deterring criminal activity and displacing the illicit cannabis market;
  • Impact of legalization and regulation on access to cannabis for medical purposes; and
  • Impacts on Indigenous peoples, racialized communities, and women who might be at greater risk of harm or face greater barriers to participation in the legal industry based on identity or socio-economic factors. 
• The Expert Panel was launched in 2022 and chaired by Morris Rosenberg with the following members:
  • Dr. Oyedeji Ayonrinde
  • Dr. Patricia J. Conrod
  • Lynda L. Levesque
  • Dr. Peter Selby
• For more information on cannabis legalization and regulation, including the health and safety facts about cannabis visit canada.ca/cannabis.

• Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act
• Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act: What We Heard Report
• Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act - Final Report of the Expert Panel
• Cannabis Act
• Cannabis Regulations
• Cannabis in Canada

SOURCE Health Canada (HC)