Petition Seeks To Raise Cannabis Age in Canada to 25, Ban Edibles, and Revoke Licenses Over Odour

An E-petition launched in December is calling for the federal government to raise the age of access to cannabis to 25, to ban the production of cannabis edibles, and to revoke the licenses of cannabis companies due to odour.

The petition, sponsored by Conservative MP Dean Allison (Niagara West), is open until April 9, 2026. As of Jan 28, it had 787 signatures. The majority of those signatures are from British Columbia (410), followed by Ontario (237), Saskatchewan (62), and Alberta (40).

The petition refers to five key issues to support its arguments, including an Evidence Brief in Public Health Ontario in April 2018 that the petitioner claims says that “exposure to cannabis odours has been reported to result in headaches, eye and throat irritation, nausea and discomfort.” That phrase, however, does not appear to be in the only document from Public Health Ontario from that timeframe. Instead, the document does say “no studies on health effects associated with exposure to cannabis odours were identified in the scientific or grey literature.”

The petition also refers to a statement from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that notes the potential impact of cannabis use on brain development up until the age of 25, the Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act (March 2024) and its comments about cannabis use among 20-24 year olds, as well as its comments about unintentional consumption of cannabis by children and unnamed public health stakeholders who are “citing concerns about the potential impact on child poisonings, cannabis-related emergency room visits and mental health impacts.”

Read the full article at StratCann