Service Standard for Issuance and Renewal of Registrations for Production of Cannabis for Own Medical Purposes 

Service Description:

Health Canada posts service standards and performance information for services with over 100 regulatory authorizations, such as permits or licences, issued each year (high-volume regulatory transactions).

The Cannabis Act and its Regulations provide a legal framework for the possession, production, distribution and sale of cannabis in Canada.

The Cannabis Regulations set out the regulatory framework through which Canadians can register with Health Canada to produce cannabis for their own medical purposes or designate someone to produce it on their behalf.

Under this framework, a person is required to obtain an authorization issued by Health Canada. In addition, registrants are responsible for compliance with the Cannabis Act and its regulations, and with other applicable federal, provincial and territorial legislation and municipal by-laws.

Refer to the following legislation and guidance to support the application process:

• Cannabis Act
• Cannabis Regulations
• Production of cannabis for your own medical purposes

Application forms are available on the Health Canada website and must be mailed in to Health Canada with an original medical document.

After the application is received by mail, it is processed through the following steps:

1. Screening: every section of the application and all attached documents are assessed for completeness, legibility and suitability.
2. Review: once the application has passed the screening stage, a detailed review is undertaken to verify that the information is accurate and satisfies all of the regulatory requirements. During the review, Health Canada may contact the applicant or the Health Care Practitioner to request clarification and/or additional information.
3. Issuance or refusal of a registration: once all information in the application has been reviewed, a regulatory decision is made to either issue, refuse to issue, or revoke a registration. If the decision is to issue a registration, a hard copy of the registration certificate is mailed to the applicant or sent via e-Post.

The grounds for refusal/revocation to issue, renew or amend a registration are found under subsection 317 and 318 of the Cannabis Regulations.

There is currently no fee associated with the application for a Registration for Personal or Designated Production.

Service Standard:

Health Canada commits to a non-binding administrative service standard of 40 business days (8 weeks) for the issuance of a regulatory decision on a complete application for personal or designated production and registration for possession only.

Performance Target:

The target for achieving this standard is set at 85%.

Performance result in fiscal year 2019 to 2020:

In 2019-2020, 95% of registrations were processed within the 40 business day (8 weeks) service standard.

Departmental Contact:

Please contact Health Canada to make any general inquiries or comments:

Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Program
Address Locator: 0302B
Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9
Phone: toll-free at 1 866 337 7705
Email: cannabis@canada.ca