Cannabis: High Up North; What Legal Weed in Canada Means for Everybody Else

Today, October 17, marks the first day that recreational marijuana can be purchased throughout Canada, per legislation passed in June. Canada is only the second country in the world to legalize weed, after Uruguay. It is the first country whose weed laws will have a substantial effect on Americans. Here's what citizens in the States need to know before taking a weed vacation up north.

Marijuana is legal for adults 18 and older in Canada, although territories can make their own laws. You can have up to 30 grams of dried cannabis on you (or the equivalent amount if it isn't dried), and you can share up to 30 grams with legal adults. Only licensed retailers can sell cannabis. And each person in Canada is allowed to grow up to four cannabis plants for personal use—but not for selling. Driving while impaired is prohibited. 

Because the Canadian government is letting provinces and cities set up their own marijuana laws, what and where you can do it depends on the local. For example, in many provinces like British Columbia and Ontario, you have to be 19 to buy and use marijuana. In New Brunswick you can only use it in private residences. In some provinces, you can only use it in public spaces if tobacco use is also permitted there. Canada's CBC has a useful tool for figuring it all out. Do your homework.

Canada is putting off regulating edibles for at least a year. You can make them on your own, but retailers cannot package and sell them. 

Not yet, at least. British Columbia, where the most weed is smoked in Canada, will only have one shop open today. Ontario won't have any. The government will license more and more shops as time passes.