Quebec, Canada Raises Legal Age for Cannabis to 21
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap] new law took effect in Quebec, Canada on Jan. 1 that prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from purchasing or possessing cannabis products.
The Coalition Avenir Quebec government initially passed the law back in October 2019 with the intent to protect teenagers and their developing brains. The new law makes Quebec the province with the strictest age requirement for cannabis. Elsewhere in the country, the legal age is 19 except in Alberta, where the legal age is 18. The legal age to purchase cigarettes and drink alcohol in Quebec is 18. People under 21 years old who are found in possession of cannabis can be fined up to $100.
Policy experts believe the restricting legal access will have the opposite of the intended effect, with residents under 21 purchasing cannabis from illegal dealers and using product that isn’t up to par with the legal cannabis purchased at licensed dispensaries.
“The problem is the amount of cannabis that’s already present in the illegal market. We have to think long and hard about our ability to effectively enforce prohibition,” said Daniel Weinstock, director of the institute for health and social policy at McGill University. “And if we can’t—and I strongly suspect we won’t be able to—we risk finding ourselves in the worst of all possible situations.”
An addiction researcher at the Universite de Montreal said that a small percentage of youth might put off using cannabis due to the new law, but when cannabis was illegal, nearly half of the people in Quebec had tried cannabis before they were 17 years old.
The Quebec government has also banned the sale of chocolates, candies and other sweets containing cannabis that could be attractive to younger cannabis consumers. The sale of edibles became legal in Canada in December, but Quebec delayed its rollout to make sure all products would be up to code under the new rules. The first products offered will be liquids such as sparkling waters and teas containing cannabis. The province’s rules state edibles can’t contain alcohol, nicotine or caffeine.
