M-11 Sale of cannabis for medical purposes

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize that health care is a basic human right and that no Canadian should be denied access to the prescription medicine they need to be healthy; (b) recognize that a “medical cannabis product” is a cannabis product sold for medical purposes pursuant to a license for the sale of cannabis for medical purposes granted in accordance with the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act or the Cannabis Act; (c) recognize that although medical cannabis does not have a Drug Identification Number, it is produced and sold in a highly regulated regime known as the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations; (d) recognize that patients who are legally authorized or prescribed cannabis for medical purposes by a physician and prescribing health care practitioner can legally purchase quality-controlled cannabis for medical purposes from a Health Canada licensed producer; (e) recognize that the Canada Revenue Agency considers cannabis for medical purposes a tax-deductible medical expense; (f) allow for reasonable access to medical cannabis for all Canadians who have been authorized to use it by a health care practitioner; (g) recognize that medical cannabis patients, including pediatric patients, already pay sales tax and shipping costs on medical cannabis and are not eligible for reimbursement under most insurance plans in Canada; (h) recognize that its proposal to apply excise taxes to medical cannabis, in addition to the existing sales tax, disadvantages the more than 360,000 Canadian medical cannabis patients authorized to possess cannabis for medical purposes and their families; (i) not apply an excise duty to cannabis sold for medical purposes; (j) recognize that medical cannabis should be exempt from the federal goods and services tax; (k) exempt medical cannabis from any taxes including the new excise tax after the passage of Bill C-74, Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1; and (l) zero-rate the medical cannabis tax in line with all other prescription medicine and exempt medical cannabis from any additional taxes by amending T 3 Amendments to the Excise Act, 2001 (Cannabis Taxation), the Excise Tax Act and Other Related Texts, 69(4) Section 2 of the Act, in order to allow for reasonable access to medical cannabis for all Canadians authorized to use it by a health care practitioner.