It’s a new era today, as cannabis is now legal across Canada.
If you are struggling to find your way through the haze, and need to know exactly what’s allowed in Prince George (and what’s not), we’ve compiled a list of all of the essentials:
- British Columbians need to be 19 years of age and older to purchase regulated cannabis regardless of where they live in the province.
- Kamloops is the only B.C. municipality to have a government-run store open on legalization day.
- You can order cannabis online through the government website; you’ll have to pay a $10 shipping fee. Online orders will be shipped from the Liquor Distribution Branch’s distribution centre within 48 business hours of the order being placed.
- Canada Post employees will be the ones delivering online orders. Anyone who looks under the age of 25 will be asked to provide ID. If the person is not of age, the product will be returned to the LDB and a refund will be given.
- Additional licensed cannabis retail stores will open in the coming months, as private cannabis retailers proceed through the regulatory and permit process overseen by the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.
- Prince George has passed its cannabis regulatory bylaws and the city has said the approval process for a cannabis retail store to open will take approximately three to four months.
- You can only have up to 30 grams of cannabis in a public place and you can’t smoke or vape cannabis everywhere that vaping and tobacco smoking are already prohibited such as playgrounds, sports fields, skate parks and other places where children commonly gather.
- You can get fined anywhere between $2,000 and $100,000 for breaking the provincial cannabis regulations, and you could even be sent to prison for three to 12 months.
- If you are over 19, you can also grow up to four non-medical plants per household, but they can’t be visible from public spaces off your property – so don’t put them in the window.
- Growing cannabis in homes that are also licensed daycares is prohibited.
- Landlords or strata can further restrict or prohibit growing of nonmedical cannabis on their properties, so if you live in condo or townhouse and your landlords says no, tough luck.
- Cannabis can be transported in a vehicle as long as it's in its original unopened packaging or is inaccessible to the driver and occupants (for example, in the trunk).
- You can transport four non-medical cannabis plants in a vehicle but they cannot be budding or flowering.
