While you will only be able to grow 4 plants at a time and will only have the ability to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent in public, Canada will become the first country to forego a limit on the amount of recreational marijuana you will be allowed to possess privately, according to the first draft of the
Cannabis Act.
This starkly contrasts other legalized recreational and even medicinal markets in the United States and around the world, which typically have legal possession limits that apply even in private settings.
In Uruguay, the only other federal jurisdiction in the world to legalize recreational cannabis, there is a presumptive personal possession limit of 40 grams, anything above which could put an individual in legal jeopardy; individuals can only buy up to that amount each month at pharmacies. For individuals that cultivate inside their home, there is a limit of 480 grams that can be harvested annually from up to six plants.
The lack of an inherent private possession limit in Canada's proposed plan is a curious fact: a laissez-faire approach within a legalization plan that is otherwise strict. With approximately 45 offences, there will be around 7 times more offences that you can be charged with than what currently exists for cannabis. Public possession of more than 30 grams can theoretically be punished with 5 years of jail time, while no possession limit is placed, at least in the federal draft of the law, on the amount you can possess in private.
Health Canada spokesperson André Gagnon confirmed to Lift News that there is no limit on the amount of cannabis that could be possessed in private dwellings.
It’s always possible that the provinces will enact their own limits within their respective borders in order to curb private possession and trafficking. In the past, some provinces have enacted outright possession limits on tobacco products, while it appears that no province has put such a limit on alcohol possession. But it’s equally likely that at least some provinces won’t impose such a limit. For example, Ontario has no limits on possessing those other sin-taxed products.
In a Frequently Asked Questions
document on the Government of Canada’s legalization page, one question asks, “Why is there a 30 gram limit for public possession of cannabis, and why is there seemingly no limit in a private dwelling? There is no limit for alcohol.”
While the answer provided doesn’t actually spell out
why there is no limit in a private dwelling, it is quick to note though that “30 grams of legal dried cannabis is a reasonable amount to be carried in public by an adult.” It then adds that it is a “reasonable limit” that “allows adults to carry legal cannabis or cannabis products with them when traveling between private dwellings.”
As legalization comes to be implemented, some law enforcement efforts may be hampered by the lack of a limit on private possession, but the new laws do criminalize any unauthorized sale outside of the regime, including distribution above 30 grams. Another consequence may be that despite the height limit on the four plants you can grow, there appears to be no limit on the amount you are able to harvest from those plants. This aspect would be much like Colorado, where you can produce an unlimited yield from up to 6 plants, but that state only allows you to store the yield of the harvest at the place of cultivation. Otherwise, possession of more than 28 grams, both publicly and privately, is illegal in Colorado.
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