Beginning April 19, 2022, existing holders of micro and standard cannabis licenses in Canada will be granted authorization to sell dried and fresh cannabis products. A notification went out to existing license holders at the end of March that this regulatory change will allow them to sell dried or fresh cannabis products to provincial wholesalers. Prior to this, a sales amendment was required to sell those products.
“Initial licensing came with sales conditions, and the amendment application process could take months,” said Justin Hearn, president and CEO of AirMed Canada Systems, “These changes are designed to reduce the regulatory burden for licensees and help them get their products to market more quickly. We expect this to be especially significant for our micro clients who want to carry out farmgate sales.”
Health Canada will automatically reissue licenses with amended conditions over the next three months. Those who had already applied for an amendment for dried and fresh cannabis sales will be prioritized in the process. Following the regulations, licensees will still need to submit a Notification of New Cannabis Product (NNCP) 60 days in advance of the sale of any new product.
This modification to the license program has been implemented as part of Health Canada’s efforts to improve the cannabis licensing process. According to the notification, “The decision is based on the lower risk associated with producing dried and fresh cannabis products.”
Note that the change applies only to dried and fresh cannabis products. Other products, such as edibles and vape cartridges, are not included in the sales amendment. Licensees planning to sell those products must still apply to Health Canada for a sales amendment.
“While these changes do not apply to the sale of extracts and edibles, it is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Hearn. “We expect edibles and extracts to play a significant role in cannabis sales in the future and have already added support in AirMed for these classes of cannabis.”
For more information about cannabis in Canada, visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/health/campaigns/cannabis/industry.html
For information on how AirMed manages the sale of cannabis products for licensees, visit: https://airmedcloud.com/software/#sell