Cannabis Regulations (SOR/2018-144)

Marginal note:Notice from Minister

• 344 (1) The Minister must, in the circumstances set out in subsection (2), issue a notice to the following persons and pharmacies advising them that holders of a licence for sale, holders of a licence for processing and pharmacists practising in the notified pharmacies must not distribute or sell cannabis products to the pharmacist who is named in the notice:

  • (a) the pharmacist who is named in the notice;

  • (b) all holders of a licence for sale and all holders of a licence for processing;

  • (c) all hospital pharmacies in the province in which the pharmacist who is named in the notice is entitled to practise and is practising;

  • (d) the provincial professional licensing authority for the province in which the pharmacist who is named in the notice is entitled to practise; and

  • (e) on request, the provincial professional licensing authority for any province other than the province referred to in paragraph (d).

• Marginal note:Circumstances — mandatory issuance

  (2) The notice must be issued if

  • (a) the pharmacist who is named in the notice asks the Minister, in writing, to issue the notice;

  • (b) the pharmacist who is named in the notice has contravened, in relation to cannabis, a rule of conduct established by the provincial professional licensing authority for the province in which the pharmacist is practising and the licensing authority has asked the Minister, in writing, to issue the notice;

  • (c) the pharmacist who is named in the notice has been convicted of an offence referred to in subparagraph 343(a)(iii); or

  • (d) the pharmacist who is named in the notice has been named in a notice issued under subsection 181(2) or (4).

• Marginal note:Power to issue notice

  (3) The Minister may issue a notice referred to in subsection (1) if he or she has reasonable grounds to believe that the pharmacist who is named in the notice

  • (a) has conducted an activity referred to in section 339 other than in accordance with that section;

  • (b) has, on more than one occasion, distributed or sold a cannabis product to their spouse, common-law partner, parent or child, including a child adopted in fact, contrary to accepted pharmaceutical practice; or

  • (c) is unable to account for a quantity of cannabis products for which they were responsible under this Part, the Narcotic Control Regulations or the former Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations.

• Marginal note:Preconditions

  (4) Before issuing a notice under subsection (3), the Minister must

  • (a) consult with the provincial professional licensing authority for the province in which the pharmacist to whom the notice relates is entitled to practise;

  • (b) send to the pharmacist a written notice that sets out the reasons why a notice is being considered and give him or her an opportunity to present reasons why the notice should not be issued; and

  • (c) consider

    • (i) any reasons that have been presented by the pharmacist under paragraph (b),

    • (ii) the compliance history of the pharmacist in respect of the Act, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the regulations made or continued under either Act, and

    • (iii) whether the actions of the pharmacist pose a significant risk to public health or public safety, including the risk of cannabis being diverted to an illicit market or activity.

Marginal note:Retraction of notice

• 345 (1) The Minister must retract a notice that was issued under section 344 if

  • (a) the pharmacist who is named in the notice has requested in writing that it be retracted;

  • (b) the pharmacist has provided a letter from the provincial professional licensing authority for the province in which the pharmacist is entitled to practise that states that the authority consents to the retraction of the notice;

  • (c) in the case where the notice was issued at the request of the pharmacist, one year has elapsed since the notice was issued; and

  • (d) in the case where the notice was issued in the circumstance referred to in paragraph 344(2)(d), the notice that was issued under subsection 181(2) or (4) has been retracted under subsection 182(1).

• Marginal note:Requirement to notify

  (2) If the Minister retracts a notice issued under section 344, he or she must notify, in writing, the persons and pharmacies to which it was issued.

Hospitals

Marginal note:Definition of distribute

346 In sections 347, 348, 350 and 351, distribute does not include administering.

Marginal note:Security of cannabis products

347 An individual in charge of a hospital must, in respect of cannabis products that they permit to be administered, distributed or sold,

• (a) take reasonable steps to protect them from theft or loss; and

• (b) report any theft or loss to the Minister within 10 days after becoming aware of the theft or loss.

Marginal note:Administration, distribution and sale

• 348 (1) An individual in charge of a hospital must not permit cannabis products to be administered, distributed or sold, except in accordance with this section.

• Marginal note:Hospital patients

  (2) An individual in charge of a hospital may permit cannabis products, other than cannabis plants and cannabis plant seeds, received from a holder of a licence for sale or a holder of a licence for processing to be

  • (a) administered, on receipt of a medical document or written order, to an inpatient or outpatient of the hospital; or

  • (b) distributed — but not sent — or sold, on receipt of a medical document or written order, to an individual referred to in paragraph (a) or an adult who is responsible for them.

• Marginal note:Requirements — distribution or sale

  (3) An individual in charge of a hospital must, if they permit cannabis products to be distributed or sold under paragraph (2)(b), ensure that

  • (a) the quantity of cannabis that is distributed or sold does not exceed the equivalent of the lesser of

    • (i) 30 times the daily quantity of dried cannabis that is specified in the medical document or written order, and

    • (ii) 150 g of dried cannabis;

  • (b) the cannabis products are distributed or sold in the container in which they were received from the holder of the licence for sale or the holder of the licence for processing;

  • (c) a label is applied to the container in which the cannabis products were received indicating

    • (i) the given name, surname and profession of the health care practitioner who signed the medical document or written order,

    • (ii) the given name and surname of the patient,

    • (iii) the daily quantity of dried cannabis that is specified in the medical document or written order, and

    • (iv) the date on which the cannabis products are distributed or sold;

  • (d) the patient or responsible adult is provided with the current version of the document entitled Consumer Information — Cannabis, published by the Government of Canada on its website; and

  • (e) the patient or responsible adult is provided with a separate document containing the information referred to in paragraph (c).

• Marginal note:Emergency purposes

  (4) An individual in charge of a hospital may permit cannabis products, other than cannabis plants and cannabis plant seeds, received from a holder of a licence for sale or a holder of a licence for processing to be distributed or sold for emergency purposes to an employee of or a health care practitioner in another hospital on receipt of an order, in writing, that has been signed and dated by a pharmacist in the other hospital or a health care practitioner who is authorized by the individual in charge of the other hospital to order cannabis products.

• Marginal note:Verification of signature

  (5) An individual in charge of a hospital must not permit cannabis products to be distributed or sold under subsection (4) unless the signature on the order has been verified by the individual who distributes or sells the cannabis products, if it is unknown to them.

• Marginal note:Distribution for research purposes

  (6) An individual in charge of a hospital may permit cannabis products, other than cannabis plants and cannabis plant seeds, to be distributed for research purposes to an individual who is employed in a research laboratory in the hospital and who holds a licence for those purposes.

• Marginal note:Return or destruction

  (7) An individual in charge of a hospital may permit cannabis products to be

  • (a) returned to the holder of the licence for sale or the holder of the licence for processing from which the cannabis products were received, on receipt of a written request for the cannabis products that has been signed and dated by, or on behalf of, the holder; or

  • (b) distributed or sold, for destruction, to a holder of a licence for sale, or a holder of a licence for processing, that is authorized to destroy cannabis that they did not produce, sell or distribute, on receipt of a written request for the cannabis products that has been signed and dated by, or on behalf of, the holder.