A coast-to-coast guide to Canada’s cannabis laws

Conflicting regional regulations could leave travellers feeling dazed and confused

When cannabis is legalized on Oct. 17, travellers will be free to throw up to 30 grams in their suitcase and fly it across Canada. But when they land, the rules governing how and where they can smoke, grow and buy it might be far different than from where they came. Feel free to toke up on a boat in Edmonton — but try it in Vancouver and you could be fined up to $10,000. Go ahead and grow your own weed in Regina — but you’ll face a $2,542 fine for doing the same in Winnipeg. Buy your weed and booze at the same time in Halifax (actually, you have to) — but you’ll have to walk a bit farther in Calgary, which doesn’t allow liquor stores and cannabis retail shops to operate next to each other. These conflicting regional laws add up to “confusion and concern” for the public, said University of Guelph associate professor Andrew Hathaway, who studies cannabis policy. Canadian cannabis laws have “been described as ‘building an airplane on the way down,’ ” he said. “It’s a sense of, nobody’s really ready for this.” Policy-makers, law enforcement and other stakeholders have been hard at work crafting cannabis laws for a long time now, Hathaway said, but work often has to be refocused or scrapped altogether when governments decide to veer in a different direction. “I can assure you that they’re all very busy, doing their very best, and then next thing you know, Doug Ford says we’re going to do it this way,” he said, referring to the Ontario premier’s announcement in late September that the province would allow cannabis smoking anywhere that tobacco use is legal. Though cannabis will be legal up here, Hathaway urged Canadians to take special care near the border, as the U.S. government is still decidedly unfriendly to pot. “We know how hypervigilant they can be at borders,” Hathaway said. “Smartphones can be checked for emails, laptops can be checked.” Above all, if you’re not sure if something is legal, “be very cautious,” Hathaway said — it’s not worth risking a fine, or worse, because you didn’t read the bylaws before you lit up.