Marijuana edibles are moving towards Canadian government approval

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It’s been nearly three months since cannabis became legal for recreational use in Canada, and now the federal government is preparing to allow more products onto the market — in particular, edibles like baked goods, candy, and chocolate.

When weed became legal in October 2018, it wasn’t as sweeping as some might have thought — predominantly products for smoking or vaping were allowed for sale. Now, Health Canada has released its draft regulationsfor edibles and other products like topicals (think balms and lotions).

La Presse indicates that these have been more or less approved (saying “Ottawa says yes”). However, Health Canada is still doing consultations on those regulations until late February, so it’s still not possible to go out and (legally) buy brownies or cookies — and it could be quite a few months away, with Health Canada noting that such products will be legal “no later than October 17, 2019”.

The government is proposing that any single package of edibles can only contain 10 milligrams of THC, and that they must be in plain packaging so as not to appeal to children. Products mixing alcohol and weed will not be allowed, but products with caffeine will be. Those edibles will also have to meet general food safety standards, and cannot be produced in the same place as regular food products.

Of course, things could end up different in Quebec — a representative from Quebec’s ministry of health and social services previously indicated that Quebec might place stricter rules on edibles than what the Canadian government allows, with the door apparently open for them to be not allowed at all in the province. In a new statement, a ministry representative echoed the same sentiment, saying that the government does not have a stance yet, and will take time to analyze the federal guidelines before possibly proposing a specific set of rules for Quebec.

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