The main reason for bringing in the legalization of cannabis was not only to reduce criminal activity. It was also designed to help eliminate the risks and health downfalls the illicit market has and can bring.
We have found at Canada House that many patients were unaware they were purchasing from non-regulated companies before their cannabis prescription. You may have been purchasing from the illicit market and may not have even noticed.
Regulated products come from Licensed Producers (LPs). LPs hold a license issued by Health Canada to cultivate, process, and sell cannabis. They are required to follow a strict protocol from growing to packaging to the THC limits in their packages.
An illicit market regulates outside any framework and does not follow any law or regulations. Anyone can slap any name or number on the packaging, but never have it tested for contaminants, pesticides, or heavy metals. It is mostly purchased online, from street dealers or unlicensed dispensaries, and potentially comes with high health risks.
Packaging and Labels
There are numerous cannabis companies to choose from, so how can you identify if what you are obtaining is truly legal?
The packing could help you determine if you are purchasing a regulated product.
If the product is coming from a Licensed Producer, in general, it should be plain, mostly white (more colours are being utilized by LPs, but the packaging is still uniform in colour). There will be a health warning message with a yellow background, a lot number, and an excise stamp, and the information on the package will be in English and French writing. You should see a nutrition guide and directions on how to utilize the product. All packaging will include the THC cannabis symbol. The THC symbol should not be hard to miss; you should see a red octagon with the letters THC a cannabis leaf.
Many illicit products are attractive and appealing looking, have graphics and images, utilize multiple colours, and provide only the ingredients and the cannabinoid content. These packages are rarely childproof and contain cut-out windows and metallic or fluorescent colours. If your package contains these features, there is a good chance it is not legal.
THC Limits
Cannabis edibles from the illicit calculate THC based on how much-dried flower was utilized in weight to make the batch of edibles. In latent terms, a “guesstimate.” It does not consider the percentage of THC in the strain. The only way to truly determine the percentage of THC in flowers is by performing a cannabis potency test.
Processing edibles at different temperatures and times can also decrease the percentage and quality of the edible. The chances of having a 600mg edible are very slim, especially if you don’t taste cannabis at all. 600mg is equivalent to a half gram/gram of pure concentrates like Rosin or shatter. It is a common misconception that this high number of milligrams of edible exists. It more than likely does, but it is not going to be in one small sour key. In April 2022, the Ontario Cannabis Store, along with OPP (Ontario Provincial Police), tested over 44 different edible illicit products to find the products had significantly less THC in the product than what was advertised on the label.
THC products on the regulated market are tested and confirmed in their mg’s per edible. The most THC an edible can contain, by law, is 10mg per package. Those who know dosing know this dose can be quite low for those who have been utilizing it long-term. If they do require higher dosing, most are turning to the illicit market.
Legal products will not portray another candy like sour keys, gummy worms, or gummy bears. The knockoff edibles market has become so large that brands such as Sour Patch Kids have come forward and publicly announced the risk of these distillate-sprayed candies. This leads us to our next point; edibles cannot be attractive to children. No legal company will impersonate or be like another name-brand candy.
Licensed Producers Websites
If you were to enter “Cannabis online” into any internet search engine, you will be able to pull hundreds of pages you can order from. You cannot order directly from an LP on their website unless you are a registered medical patient. Not every LP supplies cannabis to the medical market. Many illicit companies turn to online sales because they do not have to pay rental fees and can avoid being caught in a storefront and forced to shut down.
All Licensed Producer websites have age portals. You must enter your day, month, and year of birth. They don’t ask if you are 19+ or 21+ and over. Also, investigate the accepted forms of payment, if you see cryptocurrency, money orders, or e-transfers and they utilize emails such as Hotmail or Gmail, there is a good chance they are not legal.
The products from illegal dispensers are cheap and offer many promotions and sales. It is common to find $2.00-$3.00/gram products on an illicit website. Some even advertise symptom management specifics such as “pain relief” and “stress relief” Health Canada does not allow Licensed companies to make any health claims on their products.
Illegal dispensaries will find better ways to imitate legal products and make them look legitimate. If you are unsure if the company website you are on is legal or if the company product you have in hand is regulated, you can always refer to the following link. It contains all the registered legal companies regulated by Health Canada and what forms of cannabis they are allowed to sell: