Cannabis Regulations

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.