Health Canada to allow some edible cannabis products starting mid-December

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FILE PHOTO: Cannabis plants fill a room in an aquaponics grow operation by licensed marijuana producer Green Relief in Flamborough, Ontario, Canada January 25, 2019. Picture taken January 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

(Reuters) - Health Canada said on Friday that some edible cannabis products, extracts and topicals would be sold in physical or online stores from mid-December.

The amended cannabis regulations will come into force on Oct. 17, the health regulator said, adding that cannabis producers with federal license will need to provide a 60-day notice of their intent to sell new products, as they are currently required to do.

“We think these new product forms are going to accelerate the shift away from black market into the legal market,” said Martin Landry, chief of corporate development & strategy at Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. The Canadian firm specializes in the extraction, purification and formulation of cannabis products.

“They are critical for the legal market to capture a bigger part of the consumer spending,” Landry said.

The amendments will also limit the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the substance in cannabis that makes people high, to 10 milligrams per serving in cannabis edibles and extracts. For cannabis topicals, the limit will be 1 gram of THC per package.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce said even though the new proposed regulations will allow for the development of a range of products to meet consumer demand, the industry body was disappointed to see that multi-packs for edibles cannot exceed 10 mg of THC per package.

The OCC in a recent report had said it supports a THC limit of 10-mg per discrete unit of edibles, as well as the sale of multi-packs or multiple products up to a maximum of 100-mg of THC per package.

Ontario is home to more than half the licensed producers of recreational cannabis in Canada and a majority of employment.

Last year, Canada became one of the first major economies to legalize recreational marijuana, a move that has led to the creation of a multi-billion dollar industry.

Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Maju Samuel

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Canada's health regulator says some cannabis products to launch mid December

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FILE PHOTO: Cannabis plants fill a room in an aquaponics grow operation by licensed marijuana producer Green Relief in Flamborough, Ontario, Canada January 25, 2019. Picture taken January 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

(Reuters) - Health Canada said on Friday that some edible cannabis products, extracts and topicals will be sold in physical or online stores from mid December.

The amended Cannabis regulations will come into force on October 17, the regulator said, adding that cannabis producers with federal license will need to provide 60-days notice of their intent to sell new products, as they are currently required to do.

The amendments will also limit the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the substance in cannabis that makes people high, to 10 milligrams per serving in cannabis edibles and extracts. For cannabis topicals, the limit will be 1 gram of THC per package.

Last year, Canada became one of the first major economies to legalize recreational marijuana, a move that has led to the creation of a multi-billion dollar industry.

Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Leonard Cohen's love letters to Marianne fetch $876,000 at auction

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FILE PHOTO: Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen performs during the first night of the 47th Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland on July 4, 2013. REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud/File Photo

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A collection of more than 50 love letters written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen to the woman who inspired “So Long, Marianne” has sold for $876,000, with many going for more than five times their pre-sale estimates, Christie’s auction house said on Thursday.

The archive of letters from Cohen to Marianne Ihlen chronicles their 1960s love affair and the blossoming of Cohen’s career from struggling poet to famous musician.

The top letter, in which Cohen wrote in December 1960 about being “alone with the vast dictionaries of language,” fetched $56,250 compared to an original high estimate of $10,000.

A 1964 letter, in which Cohen wrote “I am famous but empty,” went for $35,000, Christie’s said.

Cohen and the Norwegian-born Ihlen met on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960 and she became the inspiration for several of his best-known songs, including “Bird on a Wire,” “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” and the 1967 track “So Long, Marianne.”

Ihlen died of leukemia in Oslo in July 2016 at age 81. Cohen, who was also suffering from leukemia, died in November 2016 at the age of 82.

The letters were sold by Ihlen’s family. The buyers were not revealed.

The top lot in the five-day online auction was an Italian bronze bell dating from the 15th or 16th century that hung in the Hydra home that Cohen and Ihlen once shared. It realized $81,250 compared to a pre-sale estimate of up to $12,000.

The bell is believed to have inspired the lines, “There is a crack, a crack in everything” in Cohen’s 1992 release “Anthem.”

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie Adler

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Canadian panel calls for universal public drug coverage

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OTTAWA/TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian advisory council studying prescription drug coverage said on Wednesday the federal government should create a C$15.3 billion ($11.5 billion) universal, single-payer public pharmacare system, and warned that the current system requires a major overhaul.

A pharmacist counts prescription drugs at the at the CentreTown Pharmacy in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 12, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

The council said the plan should be implemented no later than Jan. 1, 2027, with coverage for essential medicines in place by Jan. 1, 2022.

Canada is the only country with a universal health care system that does not include universal coverage for prescription drugs. Most prescriptions are paid for through employer-funded drug plans, while some are covered by government programs for the elderly, or people with low incomes or very high costs.

“We can’t tinker with what exists. We have to transform it,” council chair Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister, said at a news conference.

The report said public and private drug providers had told the council the system is “near the breaking point.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has promised some kind of national pharmacare program, and its approach may be a key issue in the country’s October election.

Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor said in a statement that the government would “carefully study” the recommendations “over the coming months.”

The council estimated the national pharmacare would cost the federal government an additional C$3.5 billion at its launch in 2022, and C$15.3 billion in 2027.

If implemented in full, the plan would likely cut into profits of insurers and drugmakers in Canada, while saving employers and patients money.

Shares of three major insurers listed in Canada, Manulife Financial Corp, Sun Life Financial Inc and Great-West Lifeco Inc, all dropped.

‘SPACE’ FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Canada’s drug insurance system is a patchwork of more than 1,000 public and 100,000 private plans, which can make it difficult for smaller payers to negotiate discounts with pharmaceutical companies.

The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA)urged the government to work with private plans to negotiate lower drug prices. CLHIA president Stephen Frank said in a statement that all Canadians can have access to the medications they need “without putting at risk what’s working today.”

Hoskins said costs associated with the proposed program are already being paid by Canadians. By 2027, total prescription drug spending would be about 10% lower with the proposed changes, Hoskins said. Canadians spent C$34 billion ($25.6 billion) on prescription medicines in 2018.

Hoskins said he envisions “space” for the private drug insurance sector after a universal public program is rolled out.

“The profit that insurance companies generate through drug insurance plans is modest, I would describe it, compared to other aspects of benefits provided,” he said.

Pamela Fralick, president of pharmaceutical industry group Innovative Medicines Canada, said whatever path the government chooses, “no Canadian should be worse off than they are right now.”

NEW DRUG PRICE RULES IN THE WORKS

Speaking after the report’s release, Petitpas Taylor said work on the Canadian government’s proposal to reduce patented drug prices is still underway, and “movement” would come in the very near future.

New regulations, set to go into effect in January 2019, were delayed amid heavy lobbying from drugmakers.

Slideshow (3 Images)

Patented drug prices in Canada are among the highest in the world. Government surveys show some 20% of Canadians are uninsured or under-insured.

In its most recent budget the Trudeau government promised modest changes, including new funds for expensive drugs that treat rare diseases.

Reporting by Kelsey Johnson in Ottawa and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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