Nearly five years after Canada legalized recreational cannabis, Anne McLellan is still waiting for what she thought would happen after ending prohibition: testing the smoke.
But the incentives were never offered, and the tests were never done. And now, as newer and stronger cannabis products come on the market – including concentrates such as hash and an increasing variety of vapes – experts are warning the government could face legal liability akin to the claims against Big Tobacco in the 1990s if action is not taken soon.
Despite a years-long effort by a group of concerned scientists, physicians and industry executives for the federal government to ensure cannabis emissions are at least subject to the same testing standards as the law requires for tobacco, Ottawa has instead largely focused on the mental-health risks. Currently, only one of the eight packaging warning options the government requires producers to choose from mentions the health risks specifically related to smoking cannabis.
“We just want to have a conversation about what exactly we are consuming, and for whatever reason that has just not been able to happen,” said Ken Weisbrod, a licensed pharmacist who previously created the medical cannabis program for Shoppers Drug Mart and now leads the medical advisory board calling for more testing.
“This baffles me as a policy guy,” Mr. Vrana said in an interview. “I understand how governments work and that things take time, but I was surprised that no matter who we spoke with, there was never a, ‘Hey, let’s follow up and start to get the process moving.’ ” He said the advisory board’s basic demand is a “buyer-beware strategy to find out what it is exactly that people are putting in their lungs and potentially eliminate a health risk down the road.”
Health Canada appears to be “hanging their hat” on the idea that the risks of smoking anything should be obvious to anyone, Dr. Clarke said – and that testing is therefore unnecessary. Guillaume Bertrand, a spokesperson for federal Health Minister Mark Holland, referred The Globe and Mail’s questions on cannabis testing to Health Canada.
Labstat was commissioned for a new round of tests in 2022, Health Canada spokesperson Tammy Jarbeau said in an e-mail. That research, however, was “an extremely small pilot project with a single product,” said Peter Joza, Labstat’s chief technical officer for chemistry, with a budget allowing for only a limited number of emissions tests.