New tax structure for edible cannabis products based on THC, not weight
Posted April 1, 2019 12:28 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – If you’re a cannabis consumer, buying edibles may be the smarter financial decision than picking up the dried bud that’s currently on sale.
That’s because, buried in the back of the federal budget are changes to the tax structure for legal marijuana, which will now work on a sliding scale based on the amount of THC.
“So people who are using lower concentrations of THC would pay far less tax than people that are using very high concentrations,” said Minister Bill Blair.
The tax is one cent per milligram, and thanks to a proposed THC cap per item, the tax will max out at 10 cents. That is much less than the tax of one dollar per gram for dried cannabis.
The current tax structure for marijuana is based on weight and not THC.
Blair says the government will have final regulations for edibles in place before the Oct. 17 deadline, but notes there may be a delay for products to hit store shelves so companies and provinces can comply with the new rules.
“It will be up to industry and the provinces and territories to comply with those new regulations before products can be put in the shelf,” he adds.
More details are expected to be released in the next couple of months.
