Cannabis Act (2018)

The Cannabis Act (Bill C-45) received Royal Assent on June 21, 2018 and came into force on October 17, 2018, making Canada the second country in the world (after Uruguay) and the first G7 nation to fully legalise non-medical adult-use cannabis at the federal level. The Act establishes a national legal framework while delegating retail, distribution, and many cultivation rules to the provinces and territories. Federal provisions: adults (18+, though provinces may set higher) may possess up to 30 grams of legal dried cannabis (or equivalent in fresh cannabis, edibles, oil, concentrates, or seeds) in public; adults may share up to 30 grams with other adults; adults may purchase cannabis only from a provincially-authorised retailer (online or brick-and-mortar); adults may grow up to four cannabis plants per household (not per person) for personal use, from licit seed or seedlings, with two provinces opting out of home cultivation (Quebec and Manitoba initially, though Quebec's ban was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2023). Health Canada regulates licensed producers, seed sales, packaging requirements, and product testing. The Act creates new criminal offences for selling cannabis to minors, possessing more than 30 grams in public, growing more than four plants, and operating a vehicle while impaired. Cannabis edibles, extracts, and topicals were legalised one year later through the Cannabis Regulations amendment effective October 17, 2019. The Act is paired with the Cannabis Regulations (SOR/2018-144) which establish detailed requirements for licensing, packaging, advertising restrictions, plain packaging, child-resistant containers, THC limits per package (10mg per edible unit, 1000mg per package for extracts), and excise stamp requirements. A statutory three-year review of the Cannabis Act was launched in September 2022 by the federal government, with the final report submitted in 2024 recommending modernisation of public possession limits, edible THC caps, and medical access pathways. Royal King Seeds operates fully within the Cannabis Act framework — viable seeds ship to Canadian adult customers as legitimate inputs for the four-plant home cultivation right granted under section 12 of the Act.