The Canadian government on August 29 revealed how it will track legal cannabis from producer to end-user, once legal sales launch on October 17.
Federally licensed cannabis producers will be required to submit data on a monthly basis via an online portal managed by Health Canada. Provincial and territorial bodies will report distribution and retail data via the same portal, according to Health Canada.
Health Canada will then publish market data collected through what it calls the “cannabis tracking system” on its website as it does today for market data related to cannabis for medical purposes.
Non-compliance will be enforced with sanctions ranging from warning letters, to monetary penalties to suspension or revocation of licences, according to Health Canada.
Canada’s Cannabis Act provides the Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor with the authority to track the movement of cannabis across the country and she sounds optimistic that the system will be a success.
“The cannabis tracking system will be instrumental in helping to prevent legal cannabis from being diverted to the illegal market,” she said in a release.
The ministerial order that created the cannabis tracking system is scheduled to be published in the Canada Gazette and to be available on Health Canada’s website on September 5, 2018. The system takes effect simultaneously with the Cannabis Act, on October 17.
