What’s a gram of weed look like? Our handy photo guide to different amounts of cannabis, including useful information on legal limits proposed by the federal government in Bill C-45 By: Solomon Israel Posted: Last Modified:

If you've been keeping up the news on cannabis legalization in Canada, you've probably heard a lot about weights and measurements.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/01/2018 (3124 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’ve been keeping up the news on cannabis legalization in Canada, you’ve probably heard a lot about weights and measurements.

For example, the Liberal government’s Cannabis Act would permit an adult to carry up to 30 grams of marijuana in public without fear of arrest.

To the uninitiated, though, “30 grams of marijuana” means little.  Estimating weights in grams at all might be a bit of a stretch, unless you do a lot of baking.

No worries: The Leaf is here for you. We’ve put together this photo guide to different amounts of cannabis.

 

One gram of cannabis

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press One gram of dried cannabis bud.
Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press One gram of dried cannabis bud.

Pictured here is one gram of dried cannabis bud, which is the basic unit of sale for cannabis in both the legal and illegal markets. One gram might yield between one and four joints.

(This particular strain of cannabis is Super Lemon Haze, grown by Winnipeg’s Delta 9 Cannabis. Delta 9 sells this strain to registered medical cannabis users for $9 per gram.)

Measuring cannabis can be especially confusing because non-metric units are also used, especially in the black market.

Common imperial measurements used for marijuana are pounds (roughly 453.6 grams); ounces (about 28 grams); half-ounces (14 grams); quarter-ounces (7 grams); and eighth-ounces (3.5 grams). Black-market cannabis dealers often offer bulk discounts.

 

Five grams of cannabis

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Five grams of dried cannabis bud.
Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Five grams of dried cannabis bud.

Feast your eyes on five grams of cannabis bud. It weighs a little less than the loonie shown for comparison (which weighs in at almost seven grams).

The Cannabis Act, which is not yet law, would permit Canadians between the ages of 12 and 18 to possess up to five grams of cannabis without facing criminal prosecution.

Young people caught carrying more than five grams could face sentences under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The federal government says it wants to prevent young Canadians from being saddled with criminal records for possession of small amounts of cannabis.

Individual provinces can also create their own laws regarding youth possession of cannabis, and could even lower the proposed federal limit of five grams.

 

Ten grams of cannabis

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Ten grams of dried cannabis bud.
Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Ten grams of dried cannabis bud.

Now we’re into the double digits: behold, 10 grams of weed.

Dried bud like this can be smoked or vaporized, but there are other ways to consume cannabis: edible products made with cannabis oil or butter; concentrates such as hashish or shatter; topical creams; and even pills. 

Schedule 3 of the proposed Cannabis Act sets out the legal weight equivalents for these different kinds of cannabis preparations. One gram of dried cannabis bud, for example, will be equivalent to 0.25 grams of solid concentrates or five grams of freshly harvested cannabis. One cannabis seed will be the legal equivalent of one gram of dried cannabis.

 

Thirty grams of cannabis

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Thirty grams of dried cannabis bud.
Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Thirty grams of dried cannabis bud.

This picture shows 30 grams of cannabis, or slightly more than one ounce.

Thirty grams of legally produced marijuana will be the federal government’s legal limit on public possession for Canadian adults if the Cannabis Act becomes law. (There will not be a legal limit on possession in private, according to the Department of Justice.)

Under the Cannabis Act, individual Canadian adults will be able to legally share (but not buy or sell) up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or the equivalent with their peers.

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