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Weed Edibles Are Legal in Canada Today, Baby!

But you can’t buy them yet.
Canada weed edibles
Canada's edibles regulations take effect today. Photo by author 

Weed edibles are technically legal in Canada today, exactly a year after the government legalized recreational weed for the masses.

But no one will be able to buy any until at least mid-December.

While Canada’s edibles regulations officially take effect today, all that means is licensed producers can submit the products they want to bring to market to Health Canada for approval. There’s a 60-day wait before any of the products can be sold in stores.

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The rules around edibles are pretty conservative.

There is a 10 milligram THC limit per package of solid and drinkable edibles—that’s basically one serving size per package (or can, in the case of a drink.)

There is also a 10 mg THC limit per unit for ingestible extracts, with 1000 mg cap per package. The 1000 mg THC cap per package also applies to topicals (e.g. skin creams) an inhalable extracts like dabs.

Products can’t contain nicotine or alcohol and cannot appeal to children.

It’s still not clear what the ban on products that appeal to kids really means. Health Canada hasn’t outright banned gummies, for example. So we’ll have to wait and see what makes it to market.

How the US Weed Edibles Scene Compares to Canada

Packaging must be plain and child-resistant and no elements can be associated with alcohol—so marketing something as a cannabis “margarita” won’t fly.

And provinces are able to tighten the restrictions. Quebec has already banned any dessert-type edibles, which is in line with its other foolish cannabis-related regulations.

All that said, the edibles market is predicted to be a big one and will likely help transition people from the black market to the legal one.

Estimates vary quite dramatically, but Deloitte predicts Canada’s edibles and topicals market will be worth more than $2.5 billion.

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