Health Canada’s sweeping legal changes around packaging is good for the industry, the consumer and a preface of the good days to come

Yesterday was a good day for Canada’s legal weed industry.

Health Canada unveiled a slew of common sense regulations that will make it easier for customers in the legal market to know what they’re buying — and easier for Canadian companies to differentiate from one another, and bring down their packaging costs.

Bags of legal weed will now have the option to be sold with clear packages, so shoppers can actually see the flower they buy, like picking up oranges from the market. Producers spend so much time on their craft, it only follows that connoisseurs should make intelligent purchasing decisions based on the actual product’s appearance. This is overdo and exciting and, in addition to making common sense, will make shopping for legal weed more fun.

Now — like regularly occurs in the still-competitive illicit market — we can see what we’re buying.

The new regulations also stipulate that brands can differentiate from one another with coloured caps and containers, hallelujah! In 2013, medical cannabis helped usher in legal cannabis; in 2025, legal recreational products shouldn’t have to look like Tylenol. Licensed producers spend time and money developing their brands, and these cosmetic changes to packaging will help legal Canadian weed companies develop loyal customers.

When all the products look the same, it’s hard to drum up a following.

Canadian weed companies have different growing techniques, strains, and ethos. By allowing companies to appear differently to consumers, it benefits both sides of the equation: the customer and the licensed producer. This is good for the industry. Besides, it never made sense that legal weed needed a uniform brand identity to ward off underage shoppers — underage shoppers should never step foot inside a cannabis store.

(After visiting about three hundred million cannabis stores, I can report that I’ve never once seen anyone appearing underage. Seven years into legalization, underage legal weed shoppers have never been identified as a problem: a salute to security and the budtenders who’ve done a very good, difficult job.)

The legal Canadian cannabis industry is young and growing, right alongside Health Canada, with all parties dedicated to making a legal industry that can be enjoyed safely by all.

Yesterday was a good day for the legal weed industry.

It’s a precursor of the good days to come.