Ever since Canada legalized cannabis in 2018, it’s become an increasingly popular cannabis tourist destination for cannabis users across the world. Buying weed in Canada has its own distinct rules. Not just anybody can smoke cannabis. Every province and territory has unique regulations for its cannabis market. For example, some provinces only have one store, while others are still struggling to set up a single dispensary.
Adults of legal age can buy up to 30 grams of dry herb, but that doesn’t mean you should bring it back with you to the states or even smoke it in your car. Canada is barely rolling out its cannabis regulations with more to come, so do your research if you’re heading up to Canada to score some flower from the Great White North.
Age Restrictions
Most of the Canadian provinces participating in the legal cannabis market have a minimum legal age of 19 years or older to buy, possess, grow, and consume cannabis. In some cases, like in Québec, you can be 18 and buy some weed, but they’re thinking about raising the minimum legal age to 21. Giving marijuana away to a minor is against the law.
Retail Locations
For now, Canada doesn’t have enough retailers to satisfy the overwhelming demand. In Ontario, for example, the province has complete control. A newly privatized program of government-regulated dispensaries is set to start April 1. British Columbia has one solitary shop for its residents.
Canada has a hodgepodge of retail outlets where people can get their pre-rolls, flowers, and more. From online-only outlets to privately-owned dispensaries, you’ll have to research the province you’re visiting to see where you can buy some tasty flower buds.
Most delivery services won’t accept American credit cards because most credit card clearing companies won’t process cannabis purchases. You can still spend some of your hard earned cash at a physical location, but you’ll have to find one first.
Smoking Regulations
Don’t light up before looking up the local laws on public consumption. In Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, you can smoke wherever tobacco smoking is allowed except inside your car or near children. Smoking on the sidewalk is banned in multiple territories like Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and the Yukon, where you can’t smoke in public at all.
Cannabis Products
You can buy cannabis flower, oils, plants, but not edibles or extracts, concentrates, and vapes. The government is set to allow edibles, drinks, and concentrates in 2019, but no word on when exactly that will happen. Prices for cannabis products range by province and territory.
Alberta Cannabis, for example, sells grams of cannabis flower between $9.25 to $14.99 CAD for an indica gram of Namaste’s MK Ultra strain. Cannabis NB (New Brunswick) sells flower grams starting at $6.67 to $16.28 CAD for an indica gram of 7ACRES’ Sensi Star strain. Needless to say, prices depend on what dispensary you visit.
Canadian provinces make it easy to research their local jurisdiction’s laws on cannabis through their websites. Canada makes it easy to order online across all provinces and territories, regardless of whether its privately or publicly run. As one of the only countries to legalize cannabis, it’s a step ahead of many in terms of cannabis tourism by Americans.
