Cannabis is legal in Canada — here’s what you need to know

Recreational marijuana is legal as of today, but the vision of what a pot-permissive Canada looks like remains somewhat hazy.

There’s still a lot we don’t know, including what will happen to the illicit dispensaries that popped up in cities across the country in recent years. But here’s a look at what we do know as Canadian consumers buy legal cannabis for the first time.

How will people buy pot?
How people purchase legal cannabis depends on where they live.

There is one constant across the country: Online sales are available in all provinces and territories, whether via private retailers or through government-run websites. E-commerce giant Shopify, which will manage online sales for four provinces, is confident its system will be able to handle the volume.

But there are distinctions across the county with respect to age limits and retail models. Minimum age limits for purchasing and consuming cannabis vary, but most provinces mirror their rules for alcohol.

What’s the latest where you live?
Can I grow marijuana at home?
In most provinces and all territories, adults are allowed to possess four marijuana plants per household for recreational use. That’s the limit the federal government imposed when it passed the Cannabis Act in June.

Quebec and Manitoba are the two holdouts. Both fiercely opposed that decision and enacted their own rules banning growing cannabis plants at home — a move some lawyers argue could eventually result in a constitutional challenge.