10 things you must know in York Region before pot becomes legal Oct. 17

You can only get it from government website, you must be at least 19 to buy and use it

Yorkregion.com
October 4, 2018
Tim Kelly

• You will only be able to order marijuana from a government website beginning Oct. 17. It will be available from the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) which will launch its official website on Oct. 17.

• You must be 19 or older to purchase and use marijuana in the province of Ontario, the same age as purchasing and using alcohol.

• Cannabis will not be available for purchase from private storefront shops until April 1, 2019, in Ontario.

• The province of Ontario is giving municipalities until Jan. 22, 2019, to choose to opt out of allowing private storefront sales in their municipality. So far, in York Region, Markham, Richmond Hill and King Township have opted out. Newmarket, Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Stouffville, Vaughan and Georgina have still not made a final decision.

• You will be able to have up to 30 grams of marijuana at any one time.

• You will be able to grow up to four marijuana plants in your residence.

• You will be able to smoke marijuana wherever you can currently smoke cigarettes, for example, in most public spaces. You will not be able to smoke marijuana wherever cigarette smoking is not permitted.

• The penalties for being impaired from marijuana use are no different than those you would face from being impaired from using any other drug or alcohol. You can face licence suspension, vehicle impoundment, financial penalties, a criminal record and jail time.

• Police officers will be using oral fluid screening devices at roadside to test for marijuana consumption.

• Ontario is hoping to add 770 police field sobriety officers to its current stable of 1,500 by the end of 2019 on top of adding 60 police drug-recognition officers by July 1 of this year.