Cannabis in Laval
Laval, Quebec's third-largest city, sat out the first wave of cannabis stores and had none until March 2021, about 28 months after legalization. Its 2021 zoning keeps stores at least 305 metres from schools and youth centres, further than the 250 metres Quebec requires, and the city has chosen not to allow smoking in any of its parks.
Where can you smoke cannabis in Laval?
Only on private property that isn't open to the public. Quebec law has banned smoking and vaping cannabis in all public places, indoors and out, since November 2019, including streets and public events. The law lets a city reopen parts of its parks by bylaw, but Laval says it has made no exceptions: cannabis stays banned on riverbanks, in green spaces and parks, and in large outdoor spaces such as the Centre de la nature.
That matches what residents told the city before legalization. In a 2018 city survey, two out of three Laval adults said cannabis rules should be stricter than those for tobacco.
How does Laval regulate cannabis stores?
Only the SQDC, the provincial retailer, can sell cannabis, but the city decides where it may set up. Two bylaws adopted on June 1, 2021, one on production and sales and one on production odours, set these rules:
- Stores are allowed only in certain commercial zones, mainly along major roads where retail is already permitted.
- Stores must be at least 305 metres from a school or a maison des jeunes (youth centre); provincial law sets 250 metres and doesn't cover youth centres.
- Sites near planned schools, and vacant lots that could host a school, are also excluded.
- Production is limited to certain industrial zones and four small agricultural zones away from homes, and new growers must install a certified odour control system.
In practice that keeps stores on commercial arteries rather than residential streets. Province-wide rules are on the Quebec page.
Why did Laval wait so long for a store?
In 2018 Mayor Marc Demers said there would be no cannabis outlets in Laval in the first phase, and the city told the SQDC it wasn't ready for a store among the original 12. For more than two years, residents had to buy online or outside the city. The first store opened on March 19, 2021, in Sainte-Dorothée near Highway 13, and a second followed that July in Chomedey, near Highway 440.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2018 | City says no stores in the first phase; survey finds two in three want rules stricter than tobacco |
| October 17, 2018 | Legalization; Laval has no store |
| November 1, 2019 | Quebec bans smoking in all public places |
| January 1, 2020 | Legal age rises to 21 |
| March 19, 2021 | First SQDC store opens in Sainte-Dorothée |
| June 1, 2021 | Council adopts zoning and odour bylaws for cannabis |
| July 2021 | Second store opens in Chomedey |
What should visitors to Laval know?
The legal age is 21 and the public possession limit is 30 grams, as everywhere in Quebec, and consuming in a car is illegal even when parked. For help with what's on the package, see reading cannabis labels.
