By the end of the summer, recreational marijuana will be legal across Canada’s provinces and territories. National legislation legalizes the sale, cultivation and use of marijuana. It also sets the limit for marijuana possession at 30 grams and 4 marijuana plants. Everything else—age restrictions, who can sell weed, where you can sell or smoke, police protocol, etc—is left to the provinces. With recreational marijuana fast approaching, here’s a look at the marijuana laws in Canada: province by province.
Quebec
Legal age to buy cannabis: 18
Estimated price: $7 to $10 per gram
Public Smoking: Legal
Under Quebec law, anyone legally old enough to drink (18+) can purchase weed from a licensed weed retailer. You are allowed to have a maximum of 150 grams of dried cannabis. Additionally, the law bans growing marijuana plants for personal or commercial use. Despite federal legislation, the provincial government can still limit marijuana possession.
Marijuana smoking laws will resemble cigarette restrictions, and then some. This means that you won’t be able to smoke on any school property, and in or near public buildings, parks or facilities. The general rule is that you can smoke in private residences or 9 meters away from these restricted places. In Hampstead, on the west of the Island of Montreal, you may not ever be able to smoke weed outside at all.
In Quebec, the government controls all liquor sales, and will also have a monopoly on legal cannabis. The organization controlling marijuana sales is called la Société Québécoise du cannabis (SQC), under the umbrella of la Société des alcools du Québec. According to CBC News, SQC will open 20 stores across Quebec.
Some of these dispensaries may be located in metro stations in Montreal. This would be both convenient and in line with dispensary location laws: Marijuana cannot be sold near parks or schools or within 1 km of another dispensary.
The province will also offer marijuana delivery through Canada Post. Though this may sound unusual, Canada Post has been delivering medical marijuana since 2013.
