Author: Centre for Addition and Mental Health (CAMH)

Three and a half years after cannabis was legalized in Canada, this report asks the following question: do Canada’s cannabis regulations align with a public health approach? To answer it, we will begin with recommendations made by the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation to the federal government in 2016. A review of the regulations in place at the federal and provincial/territorial levels will show that Canada has best practices in place for advertising, marketing and promotion, is relatively well aligned with a public health approach in the area of minimum age as well as tax and price, and has much room to improve with respect to controlling retail outlet density (i.e. the number of storefronts per capita or in a given geographic area).