Quebec: ban on self-cultivation of cannabis ruled unconstitutional

Canada has legalized cannabis October 17, 2018. Each province has been able to adapt a common set of federal rules, including restricting certain aspects such as personal cultivation. Quebec, in particular, has decided to’prohibit its citizens from growing cannabis for personal use, whereas other states allow at least four flowering plants under federal law. The province has opted for a single, state-controlled production system and a public distribution network through the Société Québécoise Du Cannabis and its stores, which lost $4.9 million in the first half of 2019.

However, Quebec Superior Court Judge Manon Lavoie ruled on Tuesday that in its ruling that the provincial law prohibiting Quebecers from growing cannabis for personal use is unconstitutional, given the technical conflict between federal and provincial law. The ban on personal cultivation would effectively amount to a criminal law, which falls under federal jurisdiction.

Julien Fortier, the lawyer who challenged the Quebec law, said that those who wish to grow cannabis at home can now do so legally. But he also warned that the province could still appeal the decision or rewrite the law in an attempt to make the ban constitutional.

«No evidence was presented [Editor’s note: regarding the ban on personal cultivation], except for the legislative debates,» Fortier said. «It was, in fact, a case that concerned strictly … constitutional law.»

For now, residents are allowed to grow up to four plants at home, as stipulated by federal law.

Quebec’s cannabis law, which prohibited personal cultivation, was passed in June 2018 under the previous Liberal government. The new Coalition Avenir Québec government still plans to amend the law in order to raise the legal drinking age from 18 to 21.

A spokesperson for Lionel Carmant, the CAQ’s deputy health minister, who oversees the government’s cannabis legislation, said that the Quebec government would review Tuesday’s decision.