Are you wondering if it Is legal to grow marijuana in Canada? The Canadian government legalized cannabis in October 2018, and under the Cannabis Act, people are allowed to grow up to four plants in their homes as long as it’s for personal use.

But even with the country’s federal legalization of marijuana, whether growing it, smoking it or baking with it, provinces and cities have been able to pass their restrictions for the production and sale of cannabis and related products. 

Cannabis legalization has confused people about cannabis laws, medical cannabis, and bylaws. People started making edibles in their basements, assuming that Health Canada and the Government of Canada wouldn’t mind.

Grow Marijuana in Canada

There has also been the issue of impairment and driving while on recreational cannabis or even more medical use. Impaired driving is still a criminal offence. It also seems there have been a lot of fraudulent health claims made, and any health risks have been wholly ignored.

According to Statistics Canada’s 2021 cannabis survey, six percent of Canadians reported that marijuana plants were grown “in or around” their homes. Eight percent of respondents to the survey reported growing their marijuana, but the vast majority of respondents said they got their cannabis products from a legal cannabis retailer. 

(Source: Statistics Canada) 

Legalization of Weed in Canada

Before legalization, the country’s multi-billion-dollar black market for marijuana was world-renowned for its scale and reputation for high quality and potency.

While there was plenty of opposition from the Conservative Party of Canada to the Liberal government’s legalization pledge, years after the passage of the federal Cannabis Act, it has drastically altered the country’s drug policy with shifting public attitudes and growing scientific data about the drug’s harms and benefits. 

But just because the country legalized marijuana, though, doesn’t mean it isn’t still subject to a host of regulations as a controlled substance.

When the Canadian government legalized marijuana under the Cannabis Act, it allowed anyone 18 or older to possess up to 30 grams of marijuana as long as it is bought from a store licensed in the province in which it operates. 

Since then, however, provincial and municipal governments have adopted their own rules about where people can grow and consume marijuana, creating a patchwork of local and regional regulations about the permitted use and production of non-medicinal cannabis.

Cannabis plants and products

If you’re looking to answer the question, “Is it legal to grow marijuana in Canada?” it’s worth exploring the various rules and regulations adopted in different regions and jurisdictions. The simple answer is yes, but there are plenty of limitations and caveats when it comes to legally growing your marijuana in Canada, no matter what province or territory you live in.  

The federal Cannabis Act allows for the home-growing of up to four plants and the production of cannabis-infused foods, drinks, and oils. However, home production of cannabis products doesn’t allow people to use organic solvents to produce concentrates like shatter and other extracts.

Violating the federal government’s “personal cultivation limits” and other restrictions can result in getting a ticket if the amounts are small. It also carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years. 

In provinces without their cannabis retail regulations, the federal government also allows people to buy marijuana from companies licensed federally over the internet.

But buying retail cannabis in person or online is one thing. Growing it at home, either indoors or outdoors, is a bit of a different story and comes with its own set of rules depending on where you live. 

Government of Canada laws

In Ontario, provincial regulations allow anyone 19 or older to grow four plants per household, meaning a family of four in the same home can’t grow 16 plants.

The plants must be for “personal use,” and the seeds or seedlings must be from a provincial cannabis store. As well, lease or rental agreements or condominium buildings are allowed to prohibit at-home marijuana growing despite federal and provincial laws legalizing the practice.  

In Nova Scotia, people must be 19 or older to grow up to four plants per household, but local municipalities can also have their own rules. Alberta’s legal age for cannabis consumption is 18, but the province restricts home cultivation indoors as a means of “keeping cannabis away from children.”

In British Columbia, marijuana regulation falls under the provincial Cannabis Control and Licensing Act. It allows people 19 or older to grow up to four non-medicinal plants at their residence. Medical marijuana remains under its regulations and can’t be grown at home under both provincial and federal laws. 

Impairment and use in public places

British Columbia’s marijuana growing rules also prohibit plants that can be seen or “generally visible” from public spaces, including streets and sidewalks, city parks, sports fields, or school grounds.

Provincial rules in B.C. also don’t allow marijuana plants in homes that offer licensed childcare services. In addition, Indigenous governments, landlords and buildings with strata councils are allowed to pass their marijuana restrictions or prohibitions. 

The province advises people who want to grow their marijuana plants to ask their home insurance provider whether growing weed at home would affect their coverage.

The province doesn’t permit people with more than one property to grow four plants in each home. British Columbia’s cannabis legislation only allows people to grow at their residence, and people can’t designate a friend to grow for them if their strata council, for example, bans the home-growing of marijuana plants. 

Selling their homegrown weed

Furthermore, the province sets a limit of 1,000 grams of dried cannabis that people are allowed to store at home. This limit only applies to harvested flowers from marijuana plants and doesn’t count if the bud is left on the stock in various stages of growth.

The province also disallows people from selling their homegrown cannabis, limiting sales to only licensed retailers, including provincially-owned BC Cannabis Stores supplied by the B.C. The Liquor Distribution Branch buys its products from federally authorized marijuana companies. 

Produce Cannabis in Canada

Though you can’t sell your homegrown marijuana in B.C., you are allowed to share it among friends and even send it through the mail under certain circumstances as long as it’s not sent to a province or territory that restricts the interprovincial importation of cannabis and related products.  

But both Manitoba and Quebec, as well as Nunavut, have made it provincially illegal to grow marijuana, even though the federal Cannabis Act allows for it. Possessing a cannabis plant in Quebec is subject to fines of between $250 and $750. At the same time, Manitobans are subject to much more significant penalties for illegally growing pot at home, facing fines of $2,500.

This has led to court challenges of the provincial prohibitions on home-grown marijuana, with lawyers arguing that the provincial laws are, in effect, recriminalizing a practice that has been legalized by the federal government across the nation. 

Cannabis Regulation Act

Quebec and Manitoba, which also prohibit public consumption of cannabis against the law, have both faced constitutional challenges to their provincial prohibitions on home cannabis cultivation. In 2019, Quebec’s ban under its Cannabis Regulation Act was found unconstitutional, but an appellate court overturned that decision two years later.

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the case against Quebec’s rules prohibiting the at-home growing of marijuana for personal use. In addition, the age limit to buy and consume cannabis in Quebec is 21, while most provinces have set the age at 19, and federal legislation sets the age at 18. 

Grow Marijuana in Canada enforcement

Lawyers for Manitoba’s government, in arguing for the ban in court, have equated its provincial prohibition on home-grown marijuana to drunk driving laws where provinces can set their blood-alcohol levels for impaired driving.

Federal law sets that threshold at .08. Provinces like B.C. and Manitoba have stiffened their drunk driving regulations at .05, a lower threshold that allows provincial regulations to exceed those set by the federal government. 

Cannabis in Canada is primarily legal and has led to all different kinds of problems. Can people smoke in public places? How do local laws tie into federal laws? What about minors being able to purchase cannabis? How many years of age should you be to use cannabis?

Harvest Marijuana

Below are some things to think about:

• Should medical purposes cannabis be treated differently than someone wanting to get high on THC?
• How should law enforcement work with public health authorities to protect minors?
• Is the use of cannabis better than vaping? Are topicals safe?

Canadian government’s legalization of marijuana

The Canadian government’s legalization of marijuana in 2018 was the culmination of decades of civil disobedience, activism, and court challenges that finally forced policymakers’ hands to lift the longstanding prohibition.

By that time, it was well known that marijuana was “widely consumed” by Canadians, with nearly half the country admitting to consuming cannabis at some point in their lives. A year after legalization, for instance, a Statistics Canada survey found that more than five million Canadians had used cannabis in the past three months.   

The legislation set out to “protect” young people from the substance while also attempting to cut out the criminal element that had made millions of dollars each year in illicit profits from the massive black market for cannabis.

The federal Cannabis Act’s strict regulations on who can grow and consume marijuana not only apply to individuals but also to companies that manufacture cannabis products.

The federal legislation sets industry standards for packaging requirements. It prohibits marketing to young people while also setting “seed to sale” tracking rules to stop legal cannabis from being diverted to the illegal black market.

Develop Cannabis Gardens in Canada

The Cannabis Act also gives many responsibilities to individual provinces and territories to set their own rules for the production, distribution, and sale of marijuana.

It allows for provinces to restrict where people can use marijuana, increase the minimum age for consumption, lower the possession limits from the federal 30-gram threshold, as well as lower the number of plants people can grow at home.

As Quebec and Manitoba have found, their provincial bans on growing at home have seen people turn to the courts to overturn those provincial rules. With that in mind, while marijuana has been legal in Canada for several years now, the public policy issues and legal questions surrounding the plant are yet to be fully resolved. 

If you want to grow marijuana in Canada, speak to a law firm first.