Here’s how you can still be busted for weed in Canada.
Although it’s legalized, cannabis still remains one of Canada’s most strictly controlled products. Below, a brief summary of how pot can still get you into a lot of trouble with Canadian authorities.
Try to take weed back over the border
Just as recreational weed is legal in Canada, it’s also legal in Alaska. The 2,475 km border between both places is the world’s longest national frontier between two jurisdictions that both endorse the consumption of cannabis. And yet, border guards on either side will enthusiastically nail you if you try to cross with so much as a dime bag of pot. On the Alaskan side, this is because the U.S. federal government still frowns on cannabis, and they’re the ones in charge of the borders. On the Canadian side, it’s to ensure that the legal market isn’t diluted with sketchy, imported weed. Under the Criminal Code, pot smuggling into Canada can still net a 14-year jail term.
Mounties, who can still arrest you for all kinds of weed-related offences. Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia Files
Own too much weed
Canada has no possession limits on liquor. If you want to buy a decommissioned fallout shelter and turn it into history’s largest wine cellar, that’s your business. A similar rule holds true for firearms, in fact: As long as you’re licensed there’s technically no real limit to buying enough rifles to defend a small country. But marijuana remains one of the few legal products where the government has reserved the right to decide how much of it you’re allowed to own. Stock up more than 30 grams of dried cannabis or 150 grams of fresh cannabis, and the penalty could be anything from a ticket to five years in jail.
Get caught with it in certain Indigenous communities
There are still parts of Canada where possessing a mickey of vodka could land you in the back of an RCMP cruiser. Certain Indigenous communities, particularly those in the Canadian North, maintain strict “dry” policies in which possession of alcohol is curtailed and Mounties are still deputized to bust home brewers and bootleggers. Of course, unlike with cannabis, a community’s ability to ban alcohol is explicitly mentioned in the Indian Act. Thus, the precise legality of how a First Nation would ban cannabis is a bit unclear, but the federal government has announced they will not contest any Indigenous bans.
A pile of vodka and beer seized before it got to Fort McPherson, NWT. RCMP
Sell it to a minor
If you get caught selling cigarettes to someone under 18, you’ll be hit with a fine ranging from $100 to $5,000, depending on which province you’re in. Sell them cannabis cigarettes, meanwhile, and you could end up with a criminal record. Federal law prescribes up to 14 years in jail for selling to a minor, with the same penalty for “using a youth to commit a cannabis-related offence.” Presumably, this could include hiring a 16-year-old as an under-the-table weed delivery boy.
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Grow too much weed
Here again, cannabis lives in a bizarre grey area of legality. On the one hand, it’s now perfectly acceptable to plant cannabis plants next to your tomato patch. Plant one too many plants, however, and you could be thrown in jail longer than most murderers. Under federal limits, a personal pot garden can have a maximum of four plants. Get caught with an unlicensed grow op growing hundreds of plants, and the penalties could be just as bad as the old days.
A Canadian jail, which likely hasn’t seen its last weed criminal. Tyler Anderson/National Post
Be Korean
Several Asian countries greeted Canada’s legalization of pot with a flurry of warnings to their citizens that Canada’s legal weed could still rot their brain or some such. ““Japanese residents and travellers should take ample care to stay away from marijuana, including food and beverages that include marijuana,” wrote Japan’s Vancouver consulate in a warning. But only South Korea has promised to nail its citizens with drug charges if they ever return from a weed vacation to Canada. Considering that Canadian soldiers smoked plenty of weed while successfully freeing Korea from communism during the 1950s, you’d think they’d be a bit more understanding.
not like i'll ever have a large amount around
