Weed edibles cannot be legally purchased as of Oct. 17. The federal government is aiming to legalize the products, which include chocolate bars, cookies and gummy bears, by fall 2019 following further consultations.
Do I still have to buy medical cannabis through Health Canada?
Yes, according to the OCS website. Health Canada, which maintains a list of licensed producers who can provide cannabis to registered buyers for medicinal purposes, said in September that it will review the medical marijuana delivery system within five years.
Where can I smoke cannabis? And where can I not smoke it?
According to the OCS, you can smoke in a private residential dwelling (which includes a porch or balcony), sidewalks and parks, similar to rules around cigarette smoking. But condo bylaws and lease agreements could include further restrictions to where an individual can smoke in a building, if at all.
There is a plethora of areas in which smoking weed will not be permitted under Ontario law, including inside most buildings such as workplaces, schools, restaurants and bars (including patios), children’s playgrounds and inside cars and boats that are being driven or “under a person’s care and control,” according to the Ministry of Health. Courts have held in the past that “care and control” can simply mean sitting in the driver’s seat of a car that’s running, but not moving.
Fines for violating the law will be a maximum of $1,000 for the first offence, and a maximum of $5,000 for subsequent offences.
The rules around smoking weed in public in Toronto will be slightly more lax than the rules around smoking tobacco, at least for now.
The city has not yet decided if it will impose further restrictions beyond the provincial rules on smoking weed in public, according to Toronto Public Health. The city already has further restrictions beyond the provincial law when it comes to smoking tobacco in public. For example, there is a parks bylaw that prohibits smoking cigarettes within a 9-metre radius of covered picnic shelters or gazebos and outdoor theatre spaces.
What about penalties for drug-impaired driving?
Penalties depend on a variety of factors, including the amount of THC — the active ingredient in cannabis — in the driver’s blood, whether it’s their first offence or whether they are also charged with causing bodily harm or death as a result of their driving. For example, a person charged for the first time with having 2 nanograms but less than 5 ng of THC per millilitre of blood faces a maximum $1,000 fine. The maximum punishment for causing death would be life in prison.
A full range of penalties can be found on the federal department of justice’s website: justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/sidl-rlcfa/.
Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering legal affairs. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant