How to read a cannabis label in Canada: every box on the package, explained

Last checked: October 19, 2026
Our menu tells you what's in stock. The package in your hand tells you what you actually bought. Federal rules decide what that package has to say, and once you know where each piece sits, a label is quick to read. This guide covers labels on dried flower and pre-rolls, for adults 19 and over. It sticks to what the federal Cannabis Regulations require, as they read in September 2026.

Everything on the label has to appear in both English and French, so you'll see most lines twice.

The label map

1. The class of cannabis

Every label names the legal class the product belongs to. The Cannabis Act lists the classes: dried cannabis, fresh cannabis, cannabis plants, cannabis plant seeds, edible cannabis, cannabis extracts and cannabis topicals. Flower and pre-rolls are dried cannabis.

2. The brand name

The product's brand. That's the only marketing line the regulations list as required.

3. The lot number

A batch code, introduced by one of four allowed prefixes: "Lot number", "Lot no.", "Lot" or "(L)". Keep the package until it's finished; if you ever need to ask a question about a product, this is the number that identifies it.

4. Recommended storage conditions

The producer's instructions for keeping the product. Follow these rather than general advice, since they're specific to what's inside.

5. The packaging date

The day the product was packaged. The rules allow some flexibility: the printed date can differ from the real one if the product was packaged no more than seven days before or after it.

6. Net weight

How much dried cannabis is in the container, in grams. For pre-rolls and other units made for inhaling, the label goes further and must show:

• the total net weight
• the number of units in the pack
• the net weight of each unit
• the intended use of the product

7. Total THC and Total CBD

These are the two cannabinoid numbers the current rules require for dried cannabis, both given in milligrams per gram (mg/g):

• Total THC: the regulations describe it as the THC the product could yield once the potential to convert THCA into THC is taken into account.
• Total CBD: works the same way, for CBD and CBDA.

The current text for dried cannabis lists only these two totals. A 2025 amendment (SOR/2025-43) repealed the paragraphs that used to sit next to them, so if you see an extra THCA figure on a package, it isn't one of the lines the present rules require.

8. The warnings and the symbol

Three safety elements round out the label:

• the warning "KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN / TENIR HORS DE LA PORTÉE DES ENFANTS"
• one of the federal government's official health warning messages (the government publishes a set of them; each label carries one)
• the standardized cannabis symbol, required on any product with more than 10 micrograms of THC per gram

The container itself also has rules. It has to be child-resistant and have a feature showing it hasn't been opened.

A worked example (made-up numbers)

Say a pack of pre-rolls reads:

Net weight 3 g · 5 units · 0.6 g per unit · Total THC 200 mg/g · Total CBD 1 mg/g

Here's how to read it:

• Five pre-rolls, 0.6 g each, for 3 g in total. The per-unit weight times the number of units should match the net weight.
• mg/g is per gram of cannabis, not per pre-roll. To see roughly how much THC the whole pack could yield, multiply: 200 mg/g × 3 g = 600 mg.
• Converting to a percentage: 10 mg/g equals 1%, so 200 mg/g works out to 20%. That's handy if you're comparing a package with the percentages on our online menu.

Menu vs. label: which one wins?

The menu is a guide to what's available; the label is the record for the specific package. If the two don't line up, go by the label, and ask staff before you buy. Our guide to reading the online menu covers the other half of that picture.

Quick label checklist

• Class says dried cannabis
• Packaging date is present
• Lot number is there, with its prefix
• Net weight (and, for pre-rolls, unit count and weight per unit)
• Total THC and Total CBD in mg/g
• Child warning, health warning and cannabis symbol
• Seal intact

Find Jane Finch Cannabis

Jane Finch Cannabis is at 2728 Jane St in North York, near Jane St and Sheppard Ave W. Use the TTC trip planner or a map app to plan the trip. It's an adults-only store: you must be 19 or older to buy cannabis in Ontario, and the law requires staff to ask anyone who looks under 25 for photo ID, so bring government-issued photo ID.

What we relied on: the federal Cannabis Regulations (sections 108, 123, 124.1, 125 and 130, plus the definitions section) and Schedule 4 of the Cannabis Act, both read on Justice Canada's laws website.