Compare cannabis rules, side by side.

A federal medical-access framework operates under the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations.

Medical cannabis may be prescribed by a physician and dispensed by a pharmacy.

Cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) have a lawful prescription route.

Adults of the applicable provincial or territorial legal age may buy and possess legal cannabis.

The federal public-possession limit is 30 g of dried cannabis or its equivalent; minimum age and retail rules vary by province or territory.

Limited non-commercial possession, home cultivation and cultivation-association access are lawful for adults.

This is not a general commercial retail market: possession is capped at 25 g in public and 50 g at home; home cultivation is capped at three plants.

Non-medical cannabis remains illegal.

Cannabis remains a Class B controlled drug; unauthorized possession, supply and cultivation remain offences.

Cannabis is federally controlled through the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations.

That framework separately regulates cannabis products and prescription drugs containing cannabis.

Cannabis and non-synthetic THC are no longer narcotics under the Narcotics Act.

Non-medical cannabis is governed by KCanG; medical cannabis is governed by MedCanG.

Cannabis is Class B and generally Schedule 1; qualifying CBPMs are Schedule 2.

Products outside the legal CBPM definition remain Schedule 1 unless separately scheduled or authorized.

Obtain a medical document, then register with a federally licensed medical seller.

A patient may instead register with Health Canada to produce personally or designate a producer.

A physician prescribes; an operating pharmacy dispenses against that prescription.

Medical cannabis no longer requires the former narcotic-drug legal classification.

Licensed cannabis medicines follow their marketing authorization; unlicensed CBPMs require specialist prescribing.

Public-system access is devolved. NHS England and NHS Scotland both describe routine access as limited to a small number of patients and products.

A health-care practitioner must authorize use; clients of a federal medical seller must ordinarily reside in Canada.

A responsible adult may act for a child, older adult, or person with a serious impairment.

The federal prescribing provision does not set a closed list of qualifying conditions.

Treatment is a physician decision; dentists and veterinarians may not prescribe medical cannabis.

A specialist may consider an unlicensed CBPM when clinically appropriate; licensed products have product-specific indications.

NHS England guidance highlights severe epilepsy, chemotherapy-related nausea and multiple-sclerosis spasticity for specific medicines; devolved services publish their own access guidance.

The federal medical route uses a signed medical document rather than an ordinary retail prescription.

The document states the authorized daily amount and period of use and supports registration.

A physician prescription is required; pharmacies may dispense only on presentation of it.

A government bill would add personal-contact requirements and restrict mail-order supply. It remains a proposal and is not treated here as current MedCanG law.

Unlicensed CBPMs must be prescribed by a doctor on the GMC specialist register.

A marketing-authorized medicinal product is not subject to that same additional specialist-only route merely because it is cannabis-based.

Do not cross the Canadian border with cannabis, including medical cannabis or CBD, without a Health Canada exemption.

A medical prescription is not Health Canada authorization. CBSA says a permit or exemption is required even when the product is lawful where the trip began.

Do not infer a simple visitor exemption from Germany's domestic legalization.

BfArM says certified travel documentation is generally still needed because international controls and other countries' rules continue to apply.

A non-UK resident may carry up to a three-month supply of a Schedule 2–4 Part I medicinal product that was lawfully prescribed and dispensed.

Carry it on your person with a clinician letter. Schedule 1 products cannot normally enter without a licence, so product classification matters.

Federal medical sellers may supply fresh or dried cannabis, edibles, topicals and extracts.

Plants and seeds also support authorized production routes. These cannabis products are not, merely by using the medical pathway, Health Canada-authorized treatments for a disease or symptom.

Medical products include standardized dried flower or extracts and medicines containing dronabinol or nabilone.

Exact preparation availability depends on the prescription and pharmacy supply. Adult-use associations may distribute only marijuana or hashish in pure form, not edibles.

Licensed examples include an oral CBD liquid, a synthetic cannabinoid capsule and a THC/CBD mouth spray.

Unlicensed CBPMs may take other medicinal forms, but smoking cannabis or a CBPM remains prohibited.

Lawful possession or medical authorization does not permit cannabis-impaired driving.

The Criminal Code prohibits driving while impaired to any degree and creates separate offences at federally prescribed blood-THC concentrations within two hours of driving.

A 3.5 ng/mL blood-serum THC threshold applies to the road-traffic offence.

Section 24a excludes THC arising from proper use of medicine prescribed for a specific case. That exception does not authorize driving while actually unfit under the separate criminal impairment rule.

A prescription does not permit driving while impaired.

In England, Scotland and Wales, a medical defence may apply to the specified-drug limit offence when medicine was lawfully supplied and taken as directed, but not to impairment. Northern Ireland applies a separate impairment regime.

Medical registration is resident-based; authorized provincial retail is the practical route for eligible adult visitors already inside Canada.

Public-use and home-cultivation rules can change by province, territory and municipality. Authorized medical patients have separate public-possession documentation and limits.

There are no general adult-use shops; lawful supply is limited to home grow and non-commercial cultivation associations.

Home cultivation and association membership require at least six months' residence or habitual abode. Public consumption is restricted around minors, youth sites, sports facilities, pedestrian zones and association premises.

Legal prescribing does not mean routine public-system access.

NHS England and Scotland say very few people are likely to receive a prescription. Unlicensed access depends on an individual specialist decision, and commissioning differs across the UK nations.