From the Editor

Same But Different

By David Halpert

During the course of my quotidian duties, I get sent to me thousands of press releases each year, hundreds of pitches for stories as well as any general news items that come through the cannabis pipeline but one story in July struck a particular chord with me, and received a lot of attention online. It was an article published in Stratcann and, while the backstory is a bit lengthy, I want to make sure I cover all of the bases because it exemplifies a lot of the bureaucratic nonsense of the Canadian cannabis industry. So what’s this issue concern you might be asking?

Freezies.

In late June, Samuel Bouabane, the QAP at Ontario cannabis producer New Leaf Canada, received an email from Health Canada, followed up by a phone call, informing him five months after it issued its new product notification (NNCP) that the product shape, name and flavour was considered appealing to children and would not be allowed. According to Bouabane this came just one day prior to its planned release to the OCS. “Health Canada’s stance, overall,” explains Bouabane in the article, “was about the shape of the Chill Pop, the fact it was a rectangle. And they called out a specific flavour, Blue Raspberry. So they claimed that that combination of factors made it too appealing to children.” The email/phone call also implied that it could receive a product recall citing contaimination issues if the products were to go to cannabis store shelves.

What’s particularly worrisome about this case is how arbitrary it is, in the sense that Bouabane cites two other forms of infused “freezie” style treats, including one with the same flavour, being sold in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick and PEI. To say that the laws surrounding cannabis consumeables, specifically edibles and beverages, are continuously evolving is an understatement, but it’s also equally apt to say that they are also in a state of flux, not uncommon for any nascaent industry as time goes on. As I’ve said before, the roundabout argument towards seemingly arbitrary (and similar) cases as those with New Leaf Canada usually comes down to the question this notion of what is ‘illicit’ when it comes to cannabis edibles. At this point, I feel like I’m beating a dead horse. For licensed producers and processors regulatory plans include changing the THC limit on edibles from 10 mg of THC to 100 mg per package of THC. But in terms of the ‘illicit’ market, regulatory agencies like Health Canada (among others) need to understand, with respect to illicit measurement and reporting, there really is no way to accurately measure the size of the ‘illicit’ market, and its reliance on a flawed survey and questions being asked is being replicated by provinces across Canada. And given that elimination of the ‘illicit’ cannabis market is one of the main pillars of The Cannabis Act itself, one has to ask at what point theses laws are in the name of consumer safety and at what point are they unfairly penalizing LPs and processors as a result.

President / CEO, Straight Dope Media Inc.

@cannabispromag

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