How Much THC Can a Legal Edible, Drink or Extract Hold?

A legal cannabis edible or drink can hold no more than 10 mg of THC in the whole package. A legal extract or topical can hold up to 1,000 mg per container, and each unit of an extract meant to be swallowed is limited to 10 mg. These numbers come from the Cannabis Regulations (SOR/2018-144), which the Justice Laws Website shows as current to 30 September 2026 and last amended on 4 June 2026. The rules below cover what goes in the product, what the package must look like and what a seller may not do. Where you may buy these products is on the where to buy page.

What are the THC limits per package?

Product	Federal THC cap	Where in the Regulations
Edible cannabis, including a cannabis beverage	10 mg per immediate container	s. 102.7
Cannabis extract	1000 mg per immediate container	s. 101.2
Cannabis topical	1000 mg per immediate container	s. 101.2
Each discrete unit of a product meant for ingestion or nasal, rectal or vaginal use (not edibles)	10 mg per unit	s. 96

These definitions explain how the numbers work. A “cannabis product” is cannabis that has been packaged and labelled for sale to a consumer at retail, so the caps describe what is on the shelf. An “immediate container” is the container in direct contact with the cannabis, or with a wrapper that touches it. A “cannabis beverage” is edible cannabis meant for drinking with a THC concentration of 3% w/w or less. A drink is therefore an edible, and the 10 mg cap applies to its container. Our page on concentrates and extracts covers the dried-equivalent counting that sets how much an adult may carry.

Section 97 allows the measured amount to differ from the label. For extracts and topicals the range is 85% to 115% of the labelled THC. For edibles it widens as the dose shrinks: 85% to 115% above 5 mg, 80% to 120% from above 2 mg up to 5 mg, and 75% to 125% at 2 mg or less. Section 102.7 is written as “subject to subsection 97(2)”, so the two rules are meant to be read together. When a container holds several pieces, section 98.1 requires the pieces to have consistent properties, including size.

What can and cannot be in the product?

Edibles. Section 102 limits ingredients to food and food additives. Supplemented foods cannot be used as an ingredient, and a vitamin or mineral nutrient is allowed only where its use is permitted as a food additive. Caffeine is allowed only when it comes from ingredients that naturally contain it, with a total of 30 mg or less per immediate container (s. 102.2). Ethyl alcohol is allowed only up to 0.5% w/w of the edible (s. 102.3). Edibles whose unopened container must be kept at 4 degrees C or below to stay safe cannot be sold (s. 102.4).

Extracts. Section 101.3 allows only carrier substances, flavouring agents and substances that keep the product stable. Sugars, sweeteners and sweetening agents are barred, along with every substance in column 1 of Schedule 2 to the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act: amino acids, caffeine, colouring agents, essential fatty acids, glucuronolactone, probiotics, taurine, vitamins and mineral nutrients. A vitamin is allowed in the amount needed for stability. Ingested extracts have their own alcohol conditions in s. 101.3(6).

Topicals and extracts. A product meant for the eye area, or for damaged or broken skin, cannot be sold (s. 98). An extract cannot be presented for use on external body surfaces such as hair and nails (s. 101.5).

Nicotine. Section 34 of the Cannabis Act bars selling a mixture that contains cannabis and any substance in column 1 of Schedule 5, which lists nicotine, caffeine and ethyl alcohol. The Regulations then carve out the narrow caffeine and alcohol allowances above. We searched the Regulations text and found no allowance for nicotine.

What must the package look like?

Section 108 sets the container rules. The immediate container must be opaque or translucent, prevent contamination, carry a security feature showing it was not opened before you received it, meet the child-resistant package requirements of the Food and Drug Regulations and hold no more than the equivalent of 30 g of dried cannabis. Health Canada’s 2019 backgrounder describes the same approach: child-resistant and plain packaging for edibles, extracts and topicals, in effect from 17 October 2019.

“Plain” has a specific meaning. The Regulations bar brand elements and images except where they allow them, and require one uniform colour with a smooth texture, so there is no embossing or raised design on the container.

What goes on the label?

Section 123 requires these items on every cannabis product label:

• the warning “KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN / TENIR HORS DE LA PORTEE DES ENFANTS”
• one health warning message from Health Canada’s list, rotated across containers
• the standardized cannabis symbol, when THC is above 10 micrograms per gram

Under section 130 the symbol sits in the upper left 25% of the principal display panel, measures at least 1.27 cm by 1.27 cm and has a white border. The health warning goes in a black-bordered box on a yellow background. All required text appears in English and French.

Health Canada’s warning list changed on 12 March 2025. For edibles the headlines are “Edibles can poison children”, “Keep out of reach of children” and “It can take up to 4 hours to feel effects from eating or drinking cannabis”. Ingested extracts carry a 4-hour warning, and topicals carry “Do not swallow or apply internally or to broken, irritated or itching skin”.

An edible label also has to show the number of units, Total THC per unit, Total THC, Total CBD, the ingredients, food allergen and gluten sources, a nutrition facts table and the common name. The Total THC for the container cannot be above 10 mg (s. 132.18). An edible label may not carry an expiry date (s. 123.02).

What is banned on appeal to youth, alcohol and tobacco?

Section 26 of the Cannabis Act bars an authorized seller from using a package or label that could be appealing to young persons, that carries a testimonial or endorsement, that depicts a person, character or animal (real or fictional), or that evokes a way of life such as glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring. Section 31 separately bars selling cannabis with an appearance, shape or other sensory attribute that there are reasonable grounds to believe could be appealing to young persons.

The Regulations extend this to alcohol and tobacco. Sections 132.31 and 132.32 prohibit any representation on a cannabis product or its package that could associate it with an alcoholic beverage, a tobacco product or a vaping product. Sections 104.15 and 104.16 apply the same limits to promotion.

Health Canada’s page on choosing legal cannabis lists the practical red flags: packaging that copies a candy or snack brand, candy-like designs, celebrity endorsements, packaging that is not child-resistant, a missing excise stamp or THC symbol, and claims of more than 10 mg of THC per container of edible cannabis. The legal source guide explains the excise stamp.

What we could not confirm

• The supporting sentence under each health warning headline. We read the headlines only.
• The artwork of the standardized cannabis symbol. It is published as a separate Health Canada document that we did not open, and Health Canada’s label page does not describe it.
• How the child-resistant test in subsections C.01.001(2) to (4) of the Food and Drug Regulations is applied. We did not open those regulations.
• Whether a multipack of drinks counts as one immediate container or one per can. The definition points to the container in direct contact with the product, and we did not find a ruling on outer packs.
• Any beverage-specific serving or can-size rule. We found none in the Regulations text beyond the 3% w/w definition and the 10 mg cap.
• Provincial limits on edibles. We did not check each province’s own rules.