Recreational weed use is now legal in
Canada but entering or leaving Canada with marijuana in your possession remains
prohibited.
Published by Paragon Legal on 23rd September, 2021.
You can possess and
consume weed in Canada, subject to restrictions on the amount and how it was
purchased. However, it is still strictly prohibited to transport cannabis
across the Canadian border - either into Canada from another country or from
Canada into another country.
The ban on bringing
or taking weed across the border applies in the following situations:
• no matter how much cannabis you have with
you
• to both cannabis products and products
containing cannabis, such as edibles, extracts vaporizers, concentrates etc.
and cannabis topicals
• even if you are authorized to use
cannabis for medicinal purposes in any form, including cannabidiol CBD etc.
• even if you are travelling to or from a
place where cannabis is decriminalized or legal
• the law against international transport
applies even if cannabis is legal in both the source and destination countries
Canadian Border
Service Agency officers are unlikely to interrogate a visitor about the
visitor’s personal weed consumption outside of Canada. However, officers may
ask the visitor whether that person is carrying a controlled or prohibited substance
into the country. If you cannot come to Canada due to marijuana possession contact Paragon
Legal for advise on how to overcome inadmissibility
If you do not
properly declare your marijuana at the border or give inaccurate information,
you may be issued a fine or denied entry to Canada by CBSA. You should be aware
of the penalties for cannabis related offenses in Canada. The CBSA would more
than likely keep record of your cannabis related border issue.
If you are travelling
with weed within Canada you are responsible for respecting the cannabis
legislation of wherever you are. Recreational marijuana, up to a certain
amount, is legal throughout Canada. However, each province and territory sets
the minimum age for purchase, possession, and use. Currently, it is 18 in
Alberta, 21 in Quebec, and 19 in every other province or territory. It remains
illegal for underage individuals to access cannabis - or for adults to
facilitate such access.
The rule in Canada is
that an individual is allowed to publicly possess 30 grams of dried cannabis.
Canada sets the limits for other forms of cannabis, such as fresh, edibles or
concentrates, using equivalencies Canada establishes. For example, 1 gram of
dried cannabis is equivalent to 5 grams of the fresh version. Therefore, one is
allowed to possess 30 grams of dried cannabis or 150 grams of fresh cannabis.
The Canadian
government has created an online calculator that allows potential cannabis
users to input the different amounts and types of cannabis they possess or plan
to possess, to ensure they remain within the legal limits.
It is possible you
can be inadmissible to Canada due to a marijuana
conviction. Many people wishing to enter or immigrate to Canada are surprised to
learn that a prior, foreign, criminal conviction involving weed can render them
inadmissible to the country. At Canadian ports of entry, CBSA staff can easily
access, for example, an FBI criminal history report which can show most
marijuana-related convictions. It does not matter whether the offense is
considered a misdemeanor or a felony in the United States; what matters is how
the offence translates into the equivalent Canadian law.
The key to
understanding foreign cannabis convictions is to verify whether they have an
equivalent in Canadian law. Foreign convictions for actions that are no longer
illegal in Canada, but that may be illegal somewhere else, such as simple
possession of 30 grams of dry cannabis or equivalent, or possession of
cannabis-paraphernalia such as bongs, joint rollers, etc., should not pose a
problem.
However, several
foreign cannabis charges/conviction(s) can still render a person inadmissible
to Canada. The most common are:
• possession of more than 30 grams of dried
cannabis or its equivalent in other forms
• driving under the influence of cannabis
• the illegal sale or distribution of
cannabis is serious criminality punishable by up to 10 years in prison
Canada permits the
possession of limited amounts of marijuana which cannabis must be legally
produced and obtained. If a user obtains it from an unlicensed producer or
seller, the user and producer or seller could be subject to criminal charges.
This means that if one is convicted of a similar crime outside Canada, one may
become inadmissible.
Do not get caught
with weed while travelling to or from Canada. If you encounter this problem, contact our legal professional with expertise in overcoming
inadmissibility at Paragon Legal today.