Canada's Cannabis Act

The federal government has introduced legislation, the proposed Cannabis Act, which will make non-medical cannabis legal in Canada. The regulations for medical cannabis will not change.

While the federal government made the decision to legalize cannabis, provinces and territories are tasked with developing regulations in certain areas. Below is a table showing what provinces and territories have the authority to regulate:

Activity	Responsibility
	Federal	Provincial	Municipal
Possession limits	Yes	Yes	No
Trafficking	Yes	No	No
Advertisement and packaging *	Yes	No	No
Impaired driving	Yes	Yes	No
Medical cannabis	Yes	No	No
Seed-to-sale tracking system	Yes	No	No
Production (cultivation and processing)	Yes	No	No
Age limit (federal minimum)	Yes	Yes	No
Public health	Yes	Yes	No
Education	Yes	Yes	No
Taxation	Yes	Yes	No
Home cultivation (growing plants at home)	Yes	Yes	No
Workplace safety	No	Yes	No
Distribution and wholesaling	No	Yes	No
Retail model	No	Yes	No
Retail locations and rules	No	Yes	Yes
Regulatory compliance	No	Yes	No
Public consumption	No	Yes	Yes
Land use and zoning	No	No	Yes

* The federal government's proposed Cannabis Act includes restrictions on several types of promotional activities, such as:

• promotion considered appealing to youth
• promotion that includes false, misleading or deceptive information
• promotion through sponsorship, testimonials or endorsements
• promotion using the depictions of persons, celebrities, characters or animals

These proposed restrictions on promotion are meant to protect youth from being persuaded to use cannabis through marketing or advertising. At the same time, adult consumers need to have clear, objective information so they can make informed decisions about using cannabis. To make sure clear information is available to adult consumers, the legislation would require:

• factual and accurate information about cannabis products
• information about the level of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, which is the main active ingredient in cannabis) in products
• information on any other ingredients that have been added to cannabis products