Pubdate: Thu, 18 Aug 2016
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A11
Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Andrea Hill
Note: Andrea Hill is a Toronto lawyer

NEW REGULATIONS USHER IN THE ERA OF BIG MARIJUANA

'The way individuals access cannabis for medical purposes is changing."

With this sparse statement, Health Canada introduced a new set of 
regulations, the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations 
(ACMPR), which will replace the Marihuana for Medical Purposes 
Regulations (MMPR) on Aug. 24.

Until now, the MMPR have been the official legal platform for 
Canada's medical cannabis industry. However, the federal government 
was obligated to rework them after a Federal Court decision last 
February found the MMPR unconstitutionally restricted patients' 
access to marijuana. Courts have consistently found that Canadians 
have a right to "reasonable access" to marijuana for medical purposes 
- - but what "reasonable access" means is far from settled.

The ACMPR are the government's latest proposal for "reasonable 
access," and blend recognition of commercial licensed producers (LPs) 
- - a product of the MMPR - with the ability (drawn from prior 
regulations) of authorized patients to either grow their own cannabis 
or appoint an individual "designated producer" to grow it for them.

The new regulations are an interim measure only: Health Canada has 
expressly noted that these regulations "are designed to provide an 
immediate solution" to the imminent demise of the MMPR. But the ACMPR 
nonetheless offer a tantalizing glimpse at the federal government's 
evolving policy on medical marijuana.

One clear statement is that, in the eyes of the federal government, 
the LP system is working. LPs will continue to be the exclusive 
large-scale producers of cannabis under the ACMPR. This is great news 
for LPs, their stakeholders and the patients who rely on them for 
their medicine. It is also a strong endorsement of their performance. 
With a potentially giant recreational market on the horizon, that is 
a very significant message to send.

The ACMPR also resurrect the ability of patients to grow their own 
cannabis plants. Home growing represents a tidy solution to the 
accessibility problems of the MMPR, but is not a constitutional right 
in itself. However, if patients responsibly manage this privilege, 
they may have a chance at keeping home growing in the longer term. 
Other jurisdictions such as Colorado, Washington and Oregon allow for 
home-based personal production alongside commercialized medical and 
recreational marijuana regimes.

One curiosity of the ACMPR is its recognition of designated 
producers, which are individual growers appointed by patients unable 
to grow their own cannabis. The role of the designated producer is 
important because many patients are too sick or lack the resources to 
grow cannabis on the scale they need. However, designated producers 
are different from patients' own home-grow operations in that the 
former are permitted to grow for many patients at once. Health Canada 
has confirmed that under the ACMPR, one designated producer will be 
permitted to grow for up to two patients, and up to four designated 
producers will be permitted to grow at the same address.

Those allowances reflect pre-MMPR laws and court decisions which 
recognized that designated producers would need to scale up and band 
together to provide a consistent source of medical marijuana to 
patients. However, those same policies led to enforcement challenges 
because Health Canada did not have the resources to supervise 
designated producers, and local authorities were left to fill the 
gap. Although many designated producers operated carefully and 
safely, the large scale of some operations, and the lack of oversight 
in general, made the system ripe for abuse.

The LP now serves as a new and improved designated producer - subject 
to intense federal regulatory compliance, quality control, and health 
and safety standards. Although Health Canada will oversee 
applications to become a designated producer under the ACMPR, 
supervision of designated producers will again be up to local 
authorities. For those authorities, co-ordinating a consistent 
approach to enforcement will be a monumental task and is probably not 
a realistic long-term solution. It follows that the role of 
designated producers may not be a long term one, either.

The ACMPR are a temporary measure only, but they are also suggestive 
of a broader policy narrative which supports LPs as a long-term 
answer to what "reasonable access" looks like.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom