The club had asked Health Canada to exempt it from the Cannabis Act, which sets a limit of 10 milligrams of THC per edible and prohibits sales of medical cannabis in stores.
Health Canada has rejected a request by the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club to exempt it from federal cannabis regulations that prohibit the club from operating legally.
The club had asked Health Canada to exempt it from the Cannabis Act, which sets a limit of 10 milligrams of THC per edible and prohibits sales of medical cannabis in stores.
In a letter to the club this week, Health Canada said it had not shown that the proposed exemptions were necessary for a medical purpose or in the public interest.
Club founder Ted Smith said he was not surprised by the decision. “It’s something we expected, although we expected better from our government,” he said.
The club submitted a hundreds-page application to Health Canada in 2021, along with several letters of support from the City of Victoria, letters from drug policy experts and more than 300 patient testimonials.
He argued that a waiver is necessary to meet the medical needs of club members, saying federal licensing regulations have created a system only accessible to medical patients with doctors willing to write cannabis prescriptions, who can wait for articles are mailed to them. and that they can treat your conditions with a limited selection of products.
In business since 1996, the compassion club sells a variety of products, including many homemade baked goods, ointments, capsules, and gummies, to more than 8,000 customers, whom Smith has described as mostly seniors who use cannabis to treat problems. such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, chronic pain and mental health problems.
Health Canada said in its letter that the club provided insufficient evidence to show that THC in edibles is insufficient, writing that multiple units of the same cannabis product can be consumed to achieve the desired effect.
Some club members consume more than 1,000 milligrams of THC a day, making it difficult to consume the desired amount when each edible is limited to 10 milligrams, Smith said.
“Health Canada needs to make some substantial changes to its program to help people understand how to use cannabis as a medicine and not treat it as a dangerous drug,” he said.
The club was raided by provincial authorities in March and stripped of virtually all of its shares worth between $80,000 and $100,000.
Smith said they are now struggling to keep products in stock as cash flow is tight.
“But people are very happy that we are still here,” he said.
The club also filed a lawsuit and injunction against the provincial government and Health Canada to seek relief from punitive measures taken by the BC Community Safety Unit. A date for the hearing has not yet been set.
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