Home Growing in Canada can Benefit Licensed Producers

Change comes after Federal Court said old rules were unconstitutional.

Health Canada is now allowing Canadian patients to grow marijuana “in limited amounts” at home. This decision/announcement came following the successful challenge against restrictions placed on home growing, which were overturned by the Courts last year.

The original ban on home growing was part of the government’s efforts to regulate the marijuana industry, and came in effect with the introduction of the MMPR. All production, distribution, sales, and access to marijuana were designed to go through regulated channels – Licensed Producers – making marijuana available outside the regulated channel effectively illegal.

But this new allowance for home growing will not create a wedge for unregulated trade in marijuana. Canada is in the process of creating sweeping laws to introduce recreational marijuana across the country, with a decision expected in the Spring of 2017. The Federal Government has indicated they intend to maintain the existing Licensed Producer framework, expanded to meet new recreational demand.

So, what’s changed? Apart from being pushed by the courts on the issue, the Government no longer sees home growing as a threat to regulated trade. The legal changes expected in 2017 will mean wider availability and the convenience of retail, which will ensure most patients and consumers obtain marijuana through licensed channels. Patients may indeed save a few dollars, here and there, by growing a few plants at home. But just as home brewing/wine production has not undermined the alcohol industry, home growing “in limited amounts” will not pose a threat to the regulated marijuana industry in Canada.

Even more, Licensed Producers will have new opportunities as a result. Currently, there is no legal market for selling clones (seedlings) in Canada, and the allowance for home-growing means Licensed Producers may at some point begin selling clones. As a result, we expect to see an expansion in both size and number of garden centers dedicated to this trade, which would have the added benefit of allowing the government to monitor of the movement of marijuana via seed-to-sale tracking.

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