What are the rules?
If you are exploring our wonderful country, then you can travel with up to 30 grams of legally purchased cannabis.
If you are taking your adventure outside Canada, then it is important to know the rules. Take a look at the information below before you set off on your travels.
Within Canada, you are allowed to transport legally purchased (legal online site or legal licenced retailer) cannabis in a vehicle between provinces and territories.
You must make sure it is secured in closed packaging and not within reach of the driver or occupants to stay within the law. That means your shotgun rider can’t be able to reach the stash either. Edmonton Police Services (EPS) has some great tips—Put your Skunk in the Trunk.
If you’re visiting Alberta or anywhere in Canada and purchased legal cannabis (legal online site or legal cannabis retailer), it is important to know that you will not be able to carry any cannabis back home.
It doesn’t matter if it is medical or non-medical, cannabis, any form of cannabis cannot be taken across federal borders as it is a serious criminal offence. Learn more at the Canadian Border Services Agency.
Cannabis and impaired driving
Getting behind the wheel while impaired by drugs is not only dangerous, it's against the law. It doesn’t matter which substance you’re impaired by—impaired driving is still impaired driving.
Cannabis significantly affects crucial functions for operating a motor vehicle
- It impairs depth perception, concentration and attention span, making it difficult to be aware on the road.
- It slows your reaction time and decreases muscle strength and hand steadiness. This inhibits your ability to respond to hazards, and makes you a hazard to others.
Drunk driving vs. driving high
- Studies have shown that, among younger drivers, driving after using cannabis is more prevalent than driving after drinking alcohol.
- More young people report getting into a car with a driver who has recently used cannabis, as opposed to driving after using it themselves. (Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) 2017).
- After alcohol, cannabis is the most commonly-detected substance among drivers who died in vehicle crashes. (CCSA 2017)
Driving high is against the law
It doesn't matter if the vehicle is being operated on a public roadway or on private property—both are dangerous and illegal.
Drug-impaired driving is a Criminal Code (Se. 253a) offence in Canada—it applies to all motor vehicles including snowmobiles, ATVs, motorcycles, boats and airplanes.
Federal legislation has created a new drug impaired driving offences with specified blood-drug concentration limits for THC. Penalties include a maximum $1,000 fine for motorists found to have two nanograms per millilitre but less than five ng/ml of THC in their system.
In cases when a driver has either more than five ng/ml of THC or a combination of 2.5 ng/ml and 50 mg/100 ml or more of alcohol, a first offence would be a minimum $1,000 fine, a second offence would result in a mandatory 30 days of imprisonment, and a third offence would land a motorist with a mandatory 120 days of imprisonment.
Drug detection
When cannabis was legalized special training and drug detection methods were put in place so police officers had the ability to test for impaired driving.
Oral screening tools that detect specific drugs through a saliva test have been selected for use on the roadside.
Want more information on the dangers of impaired driving?