If You’re Going to Canada to Buy Weed, Here’s What You Need to Know

Recreational marijuana is now legal, but the rules vary by location, from how old you must be to where you can smoke. Expect to bring cash and don’t try to take some home.

As a sign at Ottawa International Airport makes clear, bringing cannabis home from Canada is forbidden. CreditCreditChris Wattie/Reuters

By Michelle Higgins

Recreational marijuana is now legal in Canada, giving adults the right to buy, carry and share up to 30 grams, or slightly over an ounce, of dried cannabis at one time — enough weed to roll roughly 60 joints. But where you can use it and how it is sold varies by province and territory. And don’t even think of trying to bring a joint back across the border.

Here’s what you need to know if you’re heading to Canada for weed.

How old do I have to be to buy legally?

You must be 19 to buy, possess and consume cannabis in most of Canada, including British Columbia. The minimum legal age is 18 in Alberta and Québec, although Québec’s newly elected government has pledged to raise the minimum age to 21. And everyone in your group needs to be of age: Sharing with minors is a crime.

Where can marijuana be purchased?

While the number of shops is expected to grow, options remain limited. Retail stores have yet to open in Ontario, where the government is moving forward with a tightly regulated private retail model scheduled to begin April 1.

And only one shop has opened in British Columbia so far — in Kamloops, B.C.

Global News, a Canadian television network put together a “province-by-province list of government-run, private and online outlets where you can get your hands on some bud.” Roughly a dozen legal cannabis stores have opened in Québec, including three in Montreal, Québec’s largest city. Global News points out at least three more are scheduled to open later this month, including an outpost in Ville-Marie on Lake Temiscaming in Montreal.

While weed can be purchased online from legal retailers and be delivered to an address in Canada with a signature from someone of legal age, purchases usually require a Canadian credit card.

In Alberta, for example, that means visitors from the United States must find “a physical brick and mortar store to make their purchase and most likely will have to pay cash, as most credit card clearing companies will not clear US cards for cannabis purchases,” Heather Holmen, communications manager at Alberta Cannabis, the western province’s only legal, nonmedical online cannabis store, said in an email.

What can I expect to pay?

Provinces and territories are responsible for regulating cannabis sales, and new online shopping sites list a wide variety of marijuana with a range of prices.

Alberta Cannabis has prices from 9.24 to 14.95 Canadian dollars a gram, or about $7 to $11.75, with pre-rolled joints from 6.64 Canadian dollars each. Prices on Cannabis NB, the legal online cannabis store of New Brunswick, range from 8.99 dollars a gram for loose buds of “Liiv Kinky Kush,” which have “an earthy, pine wood scent,” complemented by “a pinch of pepper,” according to the site, to 15.50 dollars a gram for “Lemon Skunk.”

Where can I smoke?

Public consumption of cannabis varies by local jurisdiction. You can’t smoke pot on the sidewalk in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan or the Yukon, where marijuana consumption is banned in public.

Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario allow you to smoke weed anywhere it’s legal to smoke tobacco, with the exception of cars and places where children are often present. Generally that means no smoking in parks, sporting fields or near a school or playground.

In Ontario you must be more than 20 meters, or about 66 feet, away from an area like a school, playground or day care center — even if children are not present. And many hotels in Canada, including the Marriott and Omni hotel brands are already smoke-free, which means cannabis smoke, too.

Don’t smoke and drive

Driving while under the influence of cannabis — or any other drug — is still illegal in Canada. Cannabis must be sealed and out of reach to drivers and passengers — like in the trunk — if being transported by car. If caught driving while high, you could face substantial fines and possibly go to prison.

What about bringing it back to the U. S.?

Nine states in the United States and the District of Columbia now allow recreational marijuana use, including Maine, Seattle and Vermont, which share the border with Canada. But that doesn’t mean you can bring weed back and forth with you.

Travelers returning to the United States are barred from bringing cannabis with them because the sale, possession, production and distribution of marijuana remain illegal under federal law.

“Individuals found with marijuana may face seizure, fines, arrest, or in the case of aliens, denial of admission into the U.S.,” Stephanie Malin, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, wrote in an email.

While every inspection is different, she noted, “zero tolerance fines and penalties generally range from $500 to $5,000.” Likewise, it is illegal to bring cannabis into Canada.

The bottom line

Every Canadian province has a website dedicated to its own specific cannabis laws and regulations, so do your research before heading across the border to smoke.

Another option: Hire someone to plan your trip for you. In Toronto, Canada High Tours offers two-hour packages starting at 50 Canadian dollars that include “several unique options for respectful and responsible cannabis consumption.” Canna Tours in Victoria, British Columbia, offers to connect travelers with “cannabis-friendly” accommodations.