Canada is among the first countries to pass legislation allowing recreational use of cannabis. If you want to cultivate your crop for medical needs health Canada permits it but you have to get a license. The Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) license allows you to grow pot for personal use or buy medical marijuana from licensed growers. Growing your pot under the ACMPR program is rewarding because you are aware of the quality of your product and the pesticides applied.
Health Canada permits four licenses per location meaning that you can grow pot for yourself and three others. The weed you grow is not for sale to the public and whatever you produce for those licensed to the facility. Someone may wonder why it is necessary to have the permit but the benefits are incredible.
Cannabis for medical purposes (FY 2018-19) – licensed producers: monthly data
Source: Canada.ca
Benefits of having an ACMPR license
The first befit of having an ACMPR license is that it permits you to cultivate your pot. Equally, you get the opportunity to purchase premium medical marijuana from licensed producers. If growing for personal use Health Canada allows you to cultivate up to 600 plants. You can store a specific amount of dried flowers and purchase directly from licensed producers across the country.
With the ACMPR license, you are not at risk of charges of impaired driving under influence. The fines are high if you for those caught driving under the influence of weed. But having a medical cannabis license allows you to have some CBD/THC in your body and you avoid charges of driving under the influence.
Equally individuals with ACMPR license get to enjoy tax benefits as you write off pot spending from income taxes. Health Canada provides a tax credit of around C$6000 for those licensed.
Process of obtaining ACMPR license
The first thing you require is a doctor for your prescription. There are several clinics where you can get this at a cost that varies. Some clinics charge a fortune but they do that to make your work easier and there is a guarantee of a license. After getting the doctor’s prescription note you can then fill the ACMPR form from the Health Canada website. You have to provide details on where you want to grow your weed and if it is not your property you will need consent from the owner of the property. After filling the forms and getting all the documents you can submit the application and wait for your ACMPR license.
After submission wait for Health Canada to respond to your application before you start growing. Sometimes people tend to mistake the doctor as the gatekeeper of the program and begin growing. This can easily land you in trouble because it is only Health Canada that provided the license.
The regulator allows you to cultivate 5 times the quantity prescribed per day. If you get a prescription of 5g per day then you could get permission to grow up to 25 plants.
The process takes long
There is a lot of bureaucracy in processing ACMPR licenses and some doctors may not want to give a prescription note. In some provinces such as Quebec, doctors are conservative about prescribing cannabis. Providing incorrect information may derail the process and usually, less than 10% of the applications receive approval. Usually, it will take around 12 months to get a doctor to give a prescription note that is if you find one willing and another up to 12 months to get approval from Health Canada. That should not worry you because there are professionals who offer assistance and you can receive your license in three months.
