Participation in Canada’s cannabis for medical purposes access program continues to decline in the wake of legalization, with about 5,000 fewer medical client registrations and 1,200 fewer registrations for personal and designated cultivation. 

The newest figures from Health Canada show that the number of medical client registrations fell 2% from 188,301 in September 2023 to 183,909 in December 2023. The number of people who registered with Health Canada for personal or designated cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes decreased by 9% from 14,944 in September 2023 to 13,672 in December 2023.

The majority of the decreases in registrations for personal/designated production were in Ontario (564), BC (145), and Quebec (143). 

While declines in those accessing medical cannabis from licensed producers have been ongoing since mid-2019, in 2022, the number of designated and personal production licences issued began declining, as well.

Despite these declines in registrations, the amount of grams per day associated with these designated or personal production licences has continued to be much higher, a trend Health Canada says is “concerning.”

While the average amount of cannabis authorized under the medical cannabis access program has been between 2-2.4 grams a day, the average authorized amount for those growing medical cannabis for personal use was 33 grams a day at the end of 2023.

Health Canada’s concern with these high numbers is the potential for these licences to be used for diversion into the commercial black market rather than for their stated personal medical use. The number of medical professionals authorizing these designated and personal production licences has steadily decreased for several months, from a high of more than 2,000 in 2019 and 2020 to just under 1,000 at the end of 2023.

The number of healthcare practitioners associated with active personal/designated registrations who authorized amounts equal to or above 25 grams per day reached a new low of 222 at the end of 2023, down from a peak of nearly 500 in late 2020. 

Health Canada has been sharing data on the number of healthcare practitioners and the daily amounts authorized with these regulatory authorities since 2019 in an effort to address these higher-than-average authorizations. 

In 2020, the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons levied a $15,000 disciplinary action against a Saskatchewan doctor found to be profiting from issuing medical cannabis licences in 2018. In 2021, a medical cannabis patient who had been authorized 100 grams a day had a court reject an allowance for the patient to possess up to 1000 grams in public at a time.

There were 4,879 healthcare practitioners associated with medical cannabis registrations made in 2023 with federally licensed sellers. There were also 941 practitioners associated with active personal/designated production registrations. Of these, 222 had authorized amounts equal to or more than 25 grams per day, while 13 had authorized amounts equal to or above 100 grams per day.

The majority (78%) of healthcare practitioners who authorized more than 25 grams of cannabis a day were located in BC and Ontario. All authorizations equal to or above 100 grams per day were in BC and Ontario.

Many national, provincial, and municipal politicians have long called for greater oversight of the designated and personal medical cannabis production regime, citing concerns with odour, light, crime, and more. 

Health Canada also allows for the import and export of cannabis for medical purposes under limited circumstances. There were 78,761.49 endorsed kilograms of dried cannabis and 7,078.90 litres of cannabis oil exported from Canada in 2023.

In total, there have been 186,394.55 kilograms of dried cannabis and 40,057.84 litres of cannabis oil exported from Canada for medical purposes since October 2018.

Rules for imports of cannabis into Canada are much more strict and limited to medical and research purposes. In 2023, there were only 0.94 kilograms of cannabis imported into Canada and 14.57 litres of cannabis oil, both for scientific purposes only. 

Since October 2018, Canada has brought in just 28.19 kilograms of cannabis from outside the country, and 28.84 litres of cannabis oil, both for scientific purposes only.