A handful of the companies we cover on the site are authorized licensed producers of medical marijuana under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations, also known as "ACMPR" for short. There are also companies that we cover that have stakes in late-stage applicants under ACMPR such as Invictus MD Strategies. Just this week Invictus announced a binding letter of intent to purchase 100% of "a late stage applicant under Health Canada's ACMPR." 

Following this recent coverage, many of our readers have been asking questions like "What is a late stage ACMPR applicant?" and "What are the stages of Health Canada's ACMPR application process?" Whether you're a potential investor in an ACMPR applicant or intend to apply yourself, this article helps readers demystify the many steps of Health Canada's daunting ACMPR application process. 

There are seven distinct stages to the application process for becoming a licensed producer ("LP") of medical marijuana under Health Canada's ACMPR:

1. Application Received

2. Preliminary Screening

3. Enhanced Screening

4. Initiation of Security Clearance Process

5. Application Review

6. Pre-Licence Inspection

7. Licensing

Just because an applicant has made it to a certain step in the process, doesn't mean they can't be sent backwards. According to Health Canada's website, "an applicant may be sent back to a stage previously cleared if new information affecting the application is received by Health Canada."

What does this mean? Just because an applicant is "late stage" at the moment, if compromising information were to reach Health Canada regarding the applicant, they could easilly get sent back to square one. With that said, an ACMPR licensed producer application can also be denied by Health Canada at any stage.  

To put that in perspective, as of August 1st of 2016, there were a whopping 1561 applications received to become authorized licensed producers under Health Canada's ACMPR. As of today, there have been only 38 approved.

Aside from the 38 approved licensed producers, there have been 253 refused applicants, 54 withdrawn applicants, and over 800 that were deemed incomplete and returned. This shows that the ACMPR application process is grueling. As we learned from the most recently approved licensed producer, JWC, using a consulting firm like Aslan Ross Consulting can make all the difference. With 18+ years of policy experience under his belt, founder Ivan Ross Vrana has helped a handful of companies navigate the complexities of ACMPR. 

This highly complex set of regulations governs the licensed producers of medical marijuana that we often cover on-site such as Supreme Pharmaceuticals, Canopy Growth and previously mentioned Invictus MD, to name a few. ​Check back soon, as we'll be increasing our coverage of topics related to the ACMPR landscape. If you are interested in learning more about any of the Canadian licensed producers, be sure to check out the companies' stock profiles in our comprehensive marijuana stocks database. 

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