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For people registered or designated to produce cannabis for medical purposes

Learn about the requirements for possessing, storing and producing cannabis products for medical purposes.

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Requirements for possessing and storing cannabis

Once you have registered with Health Canada, it is your responsibility to make sure you are aware of and comply with the terms of your registration. The following is not a complete list but will give you an idea of your responsibilities.

Possessing cannabis

You should carry a copy of your registration certificate, which is proof that you can possess or produce a limited amount of cannabis for medical purposes. You will need to show this if police or law enforcement representatives ask you for proof.

You are allowed to possess up to a 30-day supply of dried marijuana, or its equivalent. Your maximum amount is based on the lower amount of what your health care practitioner has recommended, or 150 grams.

For example, if your health care practitioner recommends:

  • 2 grams of dried marijuana a day, you can possess up to 60 grams of dried marijuana at one time
    • 2 grams × 30 days = 60 grams
  • 6 grams of dried marijuana a day, you can possess only 150 grams of dried marijuana
    • 6 grams × 30 days = 180 grams
    • the maximum amount is still only 150 grams, as set out in the regulations

Storing cannabis

Your registration certificate authorizing you to produce a limited amount of cannabis for your own medical purposes will indicate the:

  • number of marijuana plants you are allowed to grow
  • amount of dried marijuana you are allowed to store
  • the place where you are allowed to produce marijuana plants (production site)
  • the place where you are allowed store cannabis (storage site)

The maximum number of plants you are allowed to grow and store are based on the:

You must store all cannabis, other than marijuana plants, at the storage site. You can choose 1 of 3 places as your storage site:

  1. your home
  2. the production site where you, or the person you have designated, produce marijuana plants
  3. the home of the person you have designated, if you have one

You will have chosen one of these places when you applied to register. The address of this place will be on your registration certificate. You must only store the amount of cannabis that’s noted on your registration certificate.

Equivalent amounts for cannabis products other than dried marijuana

Your health care practitioner will recommend a daily amount of dried marijuana. If you are making and using cannabis products other than dried marijuana, you need to know the equivalent in dried marijuana.

The following examples may help you. Please note that these are examples and not a complete list of permitted products or equivalencies. The methods you use to make a final product may vary. You will need to keep track of the equivalent amount of dried marijuana that is in the final product. You are responsible for ensuring that you remain within your possession limit.

Fresh marijuana

If you are using fresh marijuana, 5 grams is considered equivalent to 1 gram of dried marijuana. If you are allowed to possess 60 grams of dried marijuana, you can possess 300 grams of fresh marijuana:

  • 5 grams × 60 grams = 300 grams

Other cannabis products

When producing other cannabis products, you should keep track of how much fresh or dried marijuana you have used. This will help determine how much of the cannabis product you can possess. Dividing the amount of the cannabis product you have made (for example, millilitres of oil) by the amount of fresh or dried marijuana you have used will give you an equivalency factor.

For example, if you used 5 grams of dried marijuana to make 10 millilitres of cannabis oil, your equivalency factor is 2 millilitres per gram of dried marijuana:

  • 10 millilitres of oil ÷ 5 grams of dried marijuana = 2 millilitres per gram of dried marijuana

You would use this equivalency factor to make sure that you stay within your possession limit.

For example, if the daily amount recommended by your health care practitioner is 1 gram of dried cannabis, you are allowed to possess no more than 60 millilitres of this cannabis oil:

  • 1 gram a day × 30 days = 30 grams possession limit of dried cannabis
  • 30 grams possession limit × equivalency factor of 2 millilitres per gram = 60 millilitres of cannabis oil

You must apply this equivalency factor if you use this cannabis oil to produce another product, such as using the oil as an ingredient in food.

Please note that these examples are illustrative only and intended to assist registered persons in adhering to their possession limits. These examples do not suggest appropriate concentrations or potencies for cannabis products.

Producing cannabis at the same location

There can be 4 registrations for the production of cannabis at the same location. However, you are only allowed to take care of the plants that you are registered to grow. This is the case even if someone else has their plants at the same location.

Individual producers must:

  • know which plants and cannabis products belong to them
  • keep their marijuana plants, dried and fresh marijuana, and cannabis products separate from other people’s cannabis

Designating a person to produce cannabis

If you have designated a person to produce cannabis for you and you are an adult, you can help your designated person produce your cannabis.

This means that you can do any of the things that your designated person is authorized to do, such as:

  • watering plants
  • harvesting plants
  • making cannabis products

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