If you choose to consume cannabis, get your product from a legal source. To find a legal cannabis retail store near you, visit the Map of Cannabis Retail Stores in B.C. To find out how to get legal medical cannabis, visit Health Canada’s site.
Support legal retailers, not organized crime
By purchasing illegal cannabis products, you may be supporting organized criminal operations that pose dangers to our communities.
Strengthening local communities
Buying cannabis products from legal stores helps strengthen local economies, with the money spent returning to local communities.
Quality control
Legal cannabis stores get their products from federally licensed producers who follow industry-wide standards including testing for the presence of contaminants such as pesticides, mold, bacteria, and heavy metals before they’re sold. They are also required to test and confirm THC and CBD amounts. Cannabis from illegal sources may contain dangerous contaminants and labels might not accurately reflect the THC or CBD content.
In February 2021, as part of a pilot study, the BC Cannabis Secretariat, with assistance from the BC Centre for Disease Control and the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health (NCCEH), tested dried cannabis samples seized from illicit retailers in the Metro Vancouver region through a federally licensed analytical testing lab. Results found that many samples contained contaminants and would not be allowed in the legal cannabis market. Read the blog that discusses the test results: “Unregulated Cannabis: Risky Production Practices Raise Concern for Consumers”
Responsible sales
All legal cannabis retailers must take a responsible service training course to ensure that the sale of non-medical cannabis is done lawfully and keeps consumers, staff and others safe from cannabis-related harms.
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