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Cannabis Regulations (SOR/2018-144)

Full Document:  

Regulations are current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2022-12-02. Previous Versions

PART 14Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes (continued)

DIVISION 2Registration with Minister (continued)

SUBDIVISION DDisclosure of Information (continued)

Marginal note:Disclosure to police

 The Minister may disclose any of the following information to a Canadian police force, or a member of a Canadian police force, that requests the information in the course of an investigation under the Act, on condition that the information is used only for the purposes of the investigation or the administration and enforcement of the Act or these Regulations:

  • (a) in respect of a named individual, whether the individual is a registered person, a designated person or an adult who is named in a registration certificate under paragraph 313(2)(c);

  • (b) in respect of a specified address, whether the address is

    • (i) the place where a registered person or designated person ordinarily resides and, if so, the name of that person and the registration number, or

    • (ii) the site where the production of cannabis plants is authorized under a registration and, if so, the registration number, the name of the individual who is authorized to produce and, if that individual is a designated person and the registered person is an adult, the name of the registered person; and

  • (c) in respect of a registration,

    • (i) the given name, surname and date of birth of the registered person and, if applicable, the designated person and any adult who is named in the registration certificate under paragraph 313(2)(c),

    • (ii) the full address of the place where the registered person and, if applicable, the designated person ordinarily reside,

    • (iii) the registration number,

    • (iv) the maximum quantity of dried cannabis that the registered person is authorized to possess, as indicated in the registration certificate,

    • (v) the effective date and date of expiry of the registration,

    • (vi) if the registration remains valid by virtue of subsection 314(2), the status of the renewal application,

    • (vii) the full address of the site where the production of cannabis plants is authorized,

    • (viii) whether the authorized production area is indoors, outdoors or partly indoors and partly outdoors, and

    • (ix) the maximum number of cannabis plants that may be produced at the production site and, if applicable, the maximum number of cannabis plants that may be produced for each indoor and outdoor production period.

DIVISION 3Health Professionals and Hospitals

Health Care Practitioners

Marginal note:Security of cannabis products

 A health care practitioner must, in respect of cannabis products that they possess for the practice of their profession,

  • (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:Returned cannabis products

  •  (1) A health care practitioner must, if they accept cannabis products that are returned under subsection 292(3), retain a document that contains the following information:

    • (a) the name of the individual who is returning the cannabis products;

    • (b) the address of the location at which the cannabis products are received;

    • (c) the date on which they are received;

    • (d) the quantity of cannabis that is received; and

    • (e) a description of the cannabis products, including their brand names.

  • Marginal note:Exceptions

    (2) The health care practitioner is not required to include the information referred to in paragraphs (1)(d) and (e) if

    • (a) they are unable to ascertain the information without unsealing a parcel that meets the requirements of paragraph 292(4)(a) and the parcel is subsequently sent or delivered to the holder of the licence that originally sold or distributed the cannabis products to or for the client; or

    • (b) in the case of a cannabis accessory that contains cannabis, they are unable to ascertain the information.

  • Marginal note:Retention period

    (3) The document must be retained for at least two years after the day on which it is prepared.

Marginal note:Former health care practitioner

 If an individual ceases to be a health care practitioner, they must, in respect of any document that they were required to retain under this Part and for which the retention period has not yet ended,

  • (a) ensure that the document continues to be retained until the end of the retention period; and

  • (b) notify the Minister, in writing, of the address of the place of business at which the document is retained and of any subsequent change to the address.

Marginal note:Disclosure to licensing authority

 The Minister must disclose, in writing, factual information about a health care practitioner — in relation to cannabis — that has been obtained under the Act or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to

  • (a) the provincial professional licensing authority for a province in which the health care practitioner is, or was, entitled to practise if

  • (b) the provincial professional licensing authority for a province in which the health care practitioner is not entitled to practise if the licensing authority submits to the Minister

    • (i) a written request that sets out the health care practitioner’s name and address and a description of the information being requested, and

    • (ii) a document that shows that

      • (A) the health care practitioner has applied to the licensing authority to practise in that province, or

      • (B) the licensing authority has reasonable grounds to believe that the health care practitioner is practising in that province without being authorized to do so.

Marginal note:Definition of health care practitioner

 In sections 335 to 337, health care practitioner means

  • (a) an individual who is entitled under the laws of a province to practise medicine in that province; or

  • (b) an individual who meets the requirements of paragraph (a) of the definition nurse practitioner in subsection 264(1).

Marginal note:Notice from Minister

  •  (1) The Minister must, in the circumstances set out in subsection (2), issue a notice to the persons and pharmacies specified in subsection (3) advising them, as applicable, that

    • (a) the holders of a licence for sale and the holders of a licence for processing that receive the notice must not send cannabis products to the health care practitioner who is named in the notice;

    • (b) any medical document that is signed by the health care practitioner who is named in the notice must not form the basis for registering a client if the medical document is signed after the day on which the notice is issued; and

    • (c) pharmacists practising in the notified pharmacies must not distribute or sell cannabis products on the basis of a medical document signed by, or a written order issued by, the health care practitioner who is named in the notice if the medical document is signed, or the written order is issued, after the day on which the notice is issued.

  • Marginal note:Circumstances — mandatory issuance

    (2) The notice must be issued if

    • (a) the health care practitioner who is named in the notice has asked the Minister, in writing, to issue it;

    • (b) the health care practitioner 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 health care practitioner is practising and the licensing authority has asked the Minister, in writing, to issue the notice;

    • (c) the health care practitioner who is named in the notice has been convicted of

    • (d) the health care practitioner who is named in the notice has been named in a notice issued under subsection 189(2) or (4).

  • Marginal note:Recipients of notice

    (3) A notice that is issued under this section must be issued to

    • (a) the health care practitioner who is named in the notice;

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

    • (c) all hospital pharmacies in the province in which the health care practitioner 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 health care practitioner 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:Power to issue notice

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

    • (a) has conducted an activity referred to in section 272 other than in accordance with that section;

    • (b) has provided a medical document, or issued a written order, that contains false or misleading information;

    • (c) has, on more than one occasion, provided themselves with a medical document or issued a written order for themselves, contrary to accepted medical practice;

    • (d) has, on more than one occasion, conducted an activity referred to in section 272 in respect of their spouse, common-law partner, parent or child, including a child adopted in fact, contrary to accepted medical practice; or

    • (e) is unable to account for a quantity of cannabis 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

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

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

    • (b) send to the health care practitioner 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 health care practitioner under paragraph (b),

      • (ii) the compliance history of the health care practitioner 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 health care practitioner 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

  •  (1) The Minister must retract a notice that was issued under section 335 if

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

    • (b) the health care practitioner has provided a letter from the provincial professional licensing authority for the province in which the health care practitioner 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 health care practitioner, 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 335(2)(d), the notice that was issued under subsection 189(2) or (4) has been retracted under subsection 190(1).

  • Marginal note:Requirement to notify

    (2) If the Minister retracts a notice issued under section 335, he or she must notify, in writing, the persons and pharmacies to which it was issued.

Pharmacists

Marginal note:Prohibitions — notified pharmacies

  •  (1) A pharmacist who is practising in a pharmacy that has received a notice issued under section 335 must not distribute or sell cannabis products on the basis of a medical document signed, or a written order issued, by the health care practitioner who is named in the notice unless the medical document is signed, or the written order is issued, before the day on which the notice is issued.

  • Marginal note:Prohibition — pharmacist named in notice

    (2) A pharmacist who is practising in a pharmacy that has received a notice issued under section 344 must not distribute or sell cannabis products to the pharmacist who is named in the notice.

  • Marginal note:Effect of retraction

    (3) The prohibitions referred to in subsections (1) and (2) cease to apply if the notice is retracted.

Marginal note:Prohibition — dispensing

 A pharmacist must not use an order — including a written order — to dispense a cannabis product if the quantity of cannabis that would be dispensed, when added to the quantity of cannabis that has already been dispensed under the order, would exceed the quantity of cannabis specified in the order.

Marginal note:Hospital pharmacists

  •  (1) Subject to section 337, a pharmacist who is practising in a hospital may, if authorized by the individual in charge of the hospital,

    • (a) distribute, sell or return, in accordance with paragraph 348(2)(b) or subsection 348(4) or (7), cannabis products, other than cannabis plants or cannabis plant seeds, that have been received from a holder of a licence for sale or a holder of a licence for processing; or

    • (b) distribute — but not send — or sell cannabis products, other than cannabis plants or cannabis plant seeds, to an employee of the hospital or a health care practitioner practising in the hospital, on receipt of an order, in writing, that has been signed and dated by

      • (i) the pharmacist in charge of the hospital’s pharmacy, or

      • (ii) a health care practitioner who is authorized by the individual in charge of the hospital to sign the order.

  • Marginal note:Verification of signature

    (2) Before distributing or selling cannabis products under paragraph (1)(b), the pharmacist receiving the order must verify the signature on the order, if it is unknown to them.

  • Marginal note:Prohibition

    (3) A pharmacist must not conduct the activities referred to in subsection (1) if the pharmacist has been named in a notice that has been issued under section 344 and that has not been retracted.

  • Marginal note:Definition of distribute

    (4) In this section, distribute does not include administering.

 

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