Registering to produce or possess cannabis for your own medical purposes

Learn how to access or possess cannabis for your own medical purposes and register with Health Canada under the Cannabis Regulations.

On this page

• Meet with your health care provider
• Register to produce or possess cannabis for your own medical purposes
  • Production for your own medical purposes
  • Production by a person you have designated
  • Registering only to possess and not to produce

  Meet with your health care provider

  Meet with your health care provider to discuss whether you should use cannabis to treat your symptoms.

  Your health care provider may issue you a medical document if they determine that a limited amount of cannabis should be used to treat your symptoms.

  Register to produce or possess cannabis for your own medical purposes

  Complete and send one of the registration application form below with the original of your 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
  • are authorized to use cannabis for medical purposes and wish to only purchase your cannabis from an authorized provincial or territorial retail or online point of sale, and expect to possess more than 30 grams in public

  Production for your own medical purposes

  You must meet the requirements of the Cannabis Regulations to produce 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 offense
  • 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 must mail in:

  • the original medical document from your health care provider
  • the completed registration application form for personal production, which includes 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, and
    • it is not your ordinary place of residence

    Mail this package to:

    Health Canada
    Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Program
    Address locator: 5002A
    Ottawa, ON
    K1G 0Z3

    If this information is not complete, we cannot process your application and will send the information back to you.

    Production by a person you have designated

    If you want another person to produce cannabis for you, you may designate a person to do so.

    The person you designate to produce cannabis for your medical purposes must meet certain requirements, including:

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

    This person can be authorized to produce cannabis plants 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 for designated production
    • a declaration from the person you have designated to produce cannabis on your behalf

    The person you have designated will need to provide, among other things:

    • their personal information, including their:
      • name
      • address
      • date of birth
      • been convicted of an offence referred to in paragraph 311(2) of the Cannabis Regulations
      • received a sentence referred to in paragraph 311(2)(d) of the Cannabis Regulations

      As part of the registration form you will also need to provide a signed and dated declaration from the person who owns the site where the person you have designated intends to produce. The declaration should state that they consent to the production. This is necessary for a site that:

      • you do not own and is not your place of ordinary residence
      • your designated person does not own and is not their place of ordinary residence

      Mail this package to:

      Health Canada
      Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Program
      Address locator: 5002A
      Ottawa, ON
      K1G 0Z3

      If this information is not complete, we cannot process your application and will send the information back to you.

      Registering only to possess and not to produce

      You may need to register with Health Canada in order to lawfully possess cannabis in public above the 30 grams limit allowed for non-medical purposes if you:

      • are authorized by your health care provider to use cannabis for medical purposes
      • ordinarily live in Canada
      • intend to access your supply of cannabis only from a provincial or territorial authorized retail outlet or authorized online sales platform
      • are not registered with a federally licensed seller or with Health Canada for personal or designated production

      The type of registration does not allow you to produce your own cannabis for medical purposes, or designate someone to produce it for you. It acts as proof of your ability to possess in public up to a 30-day supply of dried cannabis, or its equivalent, up to a maximum of 150 grams, depending on the amount authorized by your health care practitioner. The public possession limit for cannabis for medical purposes is in addition to the possession limit of 30 grams for non-medical use.

      If you wish to apply for a registration for possession only, you must mail in:

      • the original medical document from your health care practitioner
      • the completed registration application form for possession only.

      Mail this package to:

      Health Canada
      Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Program
      Address locator: 5002A
      Ottawa, ON
      K1G 0Z3

      If this information is not complete, we cannot process your application and will send the information back to you.

      Registration certificate

      Health Canada will send you a registration certificate if:

      • your registration:
        • application is complete
        • meets the requirements of the regulations

        This certificate will be your proof that you can legally produce or possess a limited amount of cannabis for medical purposes. If you have a designated person and are issued a registration certificate, we will mail this person their own confirmation document.

        If applicable the certificate will include the daily quantity of dried marijuana your health care provider authorized. It will also, based on the formulas found in the Cannabis Regulations, tell you how many cannabis plants you can produce.

        You or the person you have designated may only begin to produce cannabis once you receive a registration certificate from Health Canada.

        For more information

        • Registration form for personal production
        • Registration form for designated production
        • Registration form for possession only
        • Safety and security considerations
        • Information for people registered or designated to produce cannabis for medical purposes
        • Calculator for the production of a limited amount of cannabis