Canadian health regulator on Thursday raised concerns about a large number of medical marijuana people were growing at home after its data showed a significant jump in daily average production permitted by health care practitioners. While the practitioners can allow registered patients to grow a limited amount at home for personal use, the regulator’s findings show that such authorizations rose to a staggering 36.2 grams by the end of March, compared with 25.2 grams in October 2018. Meanwhile, average purchases by registered patients, who can buy pot from licensed producers and federal medical sellers, have stayed as low as 2 to 2.1 grams every month, data showed. “An early review of the data signals to be a striking difference in the average amounts prescribed per day in the two different channels,” said Deepak Anand, chief executive officer of Materia Ventures. With no concrete limits on personal production, Health Canada is facing rising pressure to tackle the perceived abuse of the home-grow program.
Reuters Staff, Business & Financial News, U.S & International Breaking News | Reuters, 12/17/2020 18:31:00