The number of inspections of federally licensed cannabis facilities and licence holders in the 2023-2024 fiscal year was on par with the previous year, but targeted inspections increased notably.
Health Canada conducted a total of 662 inspections of cannabis licence holders in the year ending March 31, 2024, including 160 inspections of registered personal and designated production of cannabis for medical purposes.
This number is on par with the 662 inspection activities in the previous year, 170 of which were of registered personal and designated production of cannabis for medical purposes inspections.
Targeted inspections increased significantly from the previous year, from 18 to 101. A targeted inspection is conducted to assess specific issues at a licensed facility.
In addition to the 160 inspections of registered and designated production licence sites, the regulator also conducted 20 compliance and enforcement activities (other than inspection) for registered personal and designated production of cannabis for medical purposes, such as conducting seizures and destructions.
In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Health Canada also issued 21 non-compliant inspection reports to licence holders for issues such as non-compliance related to Good Production Practices (GPP), unsatisfactory retention of documents and information, and not conducting activities as per their responsibilities. It issued 15 in 2022-2023.
Health Canada also issued three warning letters to formally advise licence holders of their non-compliances and to request corrective measures, conducted five seizures and detentions of products, and issued two administrative monetary penalty recommendations and two notices of violation.
While there were only five instances of sampling in the previous year, there were 113 sampling activities conducted in the most recent year. Health Canada can take product samples for testing to confirm they pass for things covered by federal regulations, such as microbial and chemical contaminations and pesticides, and follow-up on reported adverse reactions and complaints. In late 2023, Health Canada confirmed it had also conducted targeted inspections to verify reported THC levels.
Health Canada also conducted 31 industrial hemp compliance monitoring project inspections and 24 plant breeder compliance monitoring project inspections. The inspection results were all compliant.
Personal and designated licences
Of the 160 inspections of registered personal and designated production of cannabis for medical purposes locations, 74 were in British Columbia, 63 in Ontario, 18 in Quebec, and five in New Brunswick. In the previous year, the majority of such inspections (115 out of 170) were in Ontario.
Of those inspections in the most recent fiscal year, 93 received a level 3 rating, 17 received a level 2 rating, 36 received a level 1 rating, and 14 inspections were not rated. A level 1 indicates a low risk of non-compliance, whereas a level 3 indicates a “severe” risk of non-compliance.
Based on these inspections, Health Canada revoked or refused 29 registrations. The agency says additional actions are currently ongoing or under consideration. It revoked or refused 16 in the previous year.
Marketing and promotion
Health Canada also monitors the market to ensure federal licence holders adhere to federal promotional prohibitions. Of the 243 cases of potential non-compliance related to promotions inspected between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, there were 134 actions: 89 compliance emails or letters, and 45 compliance promotion emails or calls, but no administrative monetary penalties were issued.
