Administrative Burden on Cannabis: Is It Sustainable?
StratCann released a new report outlining the administrative burden of cannabis from the Health Canada perspective. StratCann noted that the total overall number of regulations had increased by about 2 per cent to 21,034, while those directly affecting cannabis had increased by 1.5 per cent. About 12 per cent of all Health Canada regulations directly affect the cannabis industry. This is more than tobacco and vaping, which is about 10 per cent.
Many industry experts have commented on the administrative burden on cannabis. In February 2023, before these latest increases were noted, the Cannabis Council of Canada said that regulations were “unsustainable”.
“We’ve seen in Smiths Falls, Ont. and Olds, Alta. the consequences of an administration of fees and taxes, which makes our industry largely unsustainable,” said George Smitherman, Cannabis Council of Canada CEO.
Not only that, many of the regulations are above and beyond the tobacco and alcohol industries. “We’re paying a regulatory fee, which was premised on a profitable industry, which tobacco and alcohol don’t pay,” he said.
These comments came on the heels of Canopy Growth’s announcement that month of 800 layoffs at its flagship Smith Falls, Ont. facility. The company has since sold the facility back to Hershey’s for $53 million.
Canopy has long been a bellwether of the Canadian cannabis industry. So are concerns about the administrative burden on cannabis a warning of what’s to come? If so, can it be stopped?
“What happened to Smiths Falls can happen to any entity in Canada,” said Truro Cannabis CEO Leonard Walter. “There are federal and provincial regulations that both need to be worked on. There are solutions. We just need folks talking.”
How Can the Administrative Burden on Cannabis Be Solved? – LPC
Walter wasn’t clear on the solutions for relieving some of the administrative burden on cannabis. However, what was clear is that some of those solutions need to be found during the Health Canada review of the Cannabis Act. That review, which is expected somewhere after March 2024, should shed some like on what direction the federal government wants to go.
The administrative burden on cannabis is just one area that needs to be addressed. Revamped cannabis marketing laws should be revisited as well. There is also a call for more Indigenous cannabis licences to increase economic parity and opportunity.
Canada is in a cannabis crisis, and has been for a while. Growing pains are to be expected in any maturing industry including consolidation. But there are also solutions for making growing pains less painful. As Walter said, we just need folks talking.
We would add, we need folks listening as well. Launching a new industry of a potentially harmful drug was a bold move on the part of Canada that had unforeseen risks. Caution in the form of regulations made sense. Now that we’ve seen what those risks are and how to manage them, we need to adapt and streamline regulations accordingly. If we don’t lessen the administrative burden on cannabis, the entire cannabis industry including average Canadian consumers will suffer.
Read more at StratCann and CTVNews.com
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