Growing For Yourself | The Clinic Network

Growing For Yourself

As of March 1, 2019, on average, the processing time to receive a registration certificate from Health Canada is 8-12 weeks or longer.

Interim Supply

  • Anyone with a “medical document” from a physician can order medicinal cannabis from a Licensed Producer (LP) while your application is being processed by Health Canada.
  • Anyone who receives a “registration certificate” from Health Canada can continue to access cannabis from a Licensed Producer prior to initial harvest.
  • Individuals may also continue to access cannabis from a licensed producer while producing their own plants as long as the possession limit of the lesser of 150 grams or 30 times the daily quantity of dried medicinal cannabis (or the equivalent in products) is not exceeded. Individuals can only use a Health Canada registration certificate to register with one licensed producer to access an interim supply.
  • If you have already sent your medical document to an LP, you may continue to order dried medicinal cannabis or oil products from that LP as per usual but if you want to grow for self, you will need to get a new medical document signed by your doctor, complete the registration document and then send them to Health Canada to receive a “registration certificate”.
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The Regulations

As of August 24, 2016 Canadians were given the right (option) to grow cannabis for personal use or designate a registered grower to cultivate cannabis on their behalf. The regulations state that, where personal or designated cultivation is concerned, for every authorized gram per day, patients are able to cultivate up to 5 indoor or 2 outdoor cannabis plants.
Starting materials (seeds or clones) can only be purchased from a Licensed Producer. Only those individuals who have registered with Health Canada to produce a limited quantity of cannabis for their own medical purposes, or to designate someone to produce it for them are permitted to purchase starting materials (plants and seeds) from licensed producers. A designated person is not permitted to register with a licensed producer to purchase starting materials.
The “Registration certificate” provided by Health Canada will indicate the number of cannabis plants that an individual or their designated person, can produce; and this number will determine how much starting materials the registered individuals can purchase. For example, the total number of plants you order from a Licensed Producer (L.P.) cannot be more than the number authorized on your registration certificate. If you want to order seeds, you may order 3 medicinal cannabis seeds for each authorized plant. If you are authorized to produce 5 plants, you may purchase a maximum of 15 seeds. Also, you can order plants and seeds more than once. If your crop is not successful, you can place another order with the same L.P. for more plants or seeds, but you cannot have more plants at your site than the number identified on your registration certificate.
Also some patients may wish to convert their raw cannabis into an oil extract (average ratio being 10 grams of dried cannabis = 1.25 grams of extracted product).

Required Documentation

Growing YourselfGrowing by a Designate
Complete and send your registration application form and your original medical document to Health Canada if you:

  • wish to produce a limited amount of cannabis for your own medical purposes
  • want to designate a person to produce a limited amount of cannabis for your own medical purposes

You must meet the requirements to grow cannabis for your own medical purposes. The requirements state that you must:

  • ordinarily live in Canada
  • be 18 years of age or older
  • attest that you have not been convicted of a cannabis-related offence
  • not be registered more than once at any time
  • If you are authorized to produce cannabis for yourself, you may also be authorized to produce for one other person if you are their designated person.
  • You may wish to consult the application guidance document for more details.

You must mail:

  • the original medical document from your health care practitioner
  • the completed registration application form
  • a signed and dated declaration from the person who owns the site where you intend to produce consenting to the production if:
    • you do not own the site or
    • it is not your ordinary place of residence
If you want another person to grow cannabis on your behalf, you may designate a person to do so. The person you designate to grow cannabis for your medical purposes must meet the following requirements:

  • ordinarily live in Canada
  • be 18 years of age or older

This person can be authorized to grow under no more than 2 registrations in total, which means that they could:

  • Be authorized to produce cannabis for him or herself and you if they are the person you have designated
  • Be authorized to produce cannabis for 2 people, other than him or herself, as their person they have designated

You must submit both:

  • The registration application form as you would to produce cannabis for your own medical purposes
  • A declaration from the person you have designated to produce cannabis on your behalf

The person you have designated will need to provide the following personal information:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Date of birth
  • Their signature and date on the declaration
  • A document issued by a Canadian police force showing that, within the 10 years before the application, they have not:
    • Been convicted of an offence referred to in paragraph 176(a)
    • Received a sentence referred to in paragraph 176(d)

If you or the designated person does not own the site, you will also need to provide a signed and dated declaration from the person who owns the site where the designate intends to grow.