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Canada's new Controlled Substances Regulations take effect today, making pandemic-era pharmacy flexibilities permanent
Health Canada's new Controlled Substances Regulations take effect October 1, 2026, consolidating several older regimes into a single federal framework; temporary authorizations for pharmacists to extend and transfer controlled-substance prescriptions become permanent.
Why it matters
Health Canada's new Controlled Substances Regulations (CSR) came into force today (October 1), the biggest overhaul of Canada's controlled-substance regime in years. The Narcotic Control Regulations, the Benzodiazepines and Other Targeted Substances Regulations (BOTSR), and Parts G and J of the Food and Drug Regulations have been consolidated into a single federal framework.
The most direct impact for patients: the pandemic-era flexibilities Health Canada granted pharmacists under a temporary subsection 56(1) exemption (in place since March 2020) — extending and transferring prescriptions for controlled substances — are now permanently written into regulation, so they continue seamlessly after the exemption expired on September 30.
Key changes
According to provincial pharmacy colleges, the new regulations permanently establish authorities including: pharmacists accepting verbal prescriptions for controlled substances from practitioners; extending or adapting controlled-substance prescriptions within two years; transferring such prescriptions to other pharmacists or pharmacy technicians anywhere in Canada; and central-fill pharmacy models expanded to cover controlled substances. Pharmacy technicians receive explicit federal authority for transfers, delivery, returned drugs, records and certain destruction tasks.
The regulations were published in December 2025 in the Canada Gazette, Part II, Vol. 159, No. 26, following 2024 public consultations. The colleges note that pharmacy practice is governed provincially, so the new federal rules apply differently across provinces (for example, not all provisions take effect in Manitoba).
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