
Here is the rule that catches American travelers in Alberta every single year: cannabis is fully legal to buy and use in Canada, and it is a serious criminal offence to carry any amount of it across the Canadian border, in either direction, no matter where you bought it, no matter that it was legal on both sides of the line. The dispensary in Edmonton is legal. The dispensary in Denver is legal. The forty minutes between the duty-free shop and the US checkpoint is where a souvenir becomes a criminal charge. This article explains how Canadian drug law actually works for a visiting American, in three layers: cannabis inside Canada, the border in both directions, and everything that is not cannabis.








