It’s a no-brainer to join the Société québécoise du Cannabis (SQDC) to purchase products without being 21 years old. The newspaper passed the test and managed to enter more than 50% of the most recently visited branches.
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The author of these lines, who will be 21 at the end of the month, visited 25 SQDC branches in several regions between October 20th and November 3rd to check whether it was possible for him to buy cannabis there, without buying cannabis the legal minimum age, which in Quebec is set at 21 years.
The result is clear: security checks in 13 of 25 branches could only be passed with real identification documents.
No cannabis products were purchased as part of this experiment as this would have been a criminal offense.
However, the purchase would have been easy as ID is not required at the counter. Verification only takes place upon entry.
Just go to Quebec and in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
In the Greater Quebec area, four out of eight branches let us in, namely Sainte-Foy, Neufchâtel, Beauport and those in Vieux-Québec.
Journalist Nicolas St-Pierre enters an SQDC. Photo Stevens LeBlanc
In the other four attempts, the results were inconclusive, but one man quickly volunteered to buy cannabis for us after being turned away in Lévis.
The average of 50% was maintained at the four SQDCs in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean during our visit.
In Jonquière, for example, the security guard barely looked at the ID, while in Alma the agent even made a joke about our date of birth before letting us in.
We were categorically denied access to the Saint-Félicien and Chicoutimi branches.
Even easier in Montreal
Our experiment on the island of Montreal began with three rejections in the SQDCs of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Anjou and Tétreaultville, but in subsequent attempts it was much simpler.
Of the seven branches visited in the following hours, six were caught, namely: The Village, Métro Place Saint-Henri, Crescent, Métro Mont-Royal, Saint-Laurent and Saint-Denis–Rachel.
A security guard we met even asked the author of these lines his year of birth because he couldn’t clearly see it on the undamaged driver’s license. The latter then let us in.
In Montreal alone, 60% of the branches visited allowed the passage of a 20-year-old young man.
The Journal also attempted to enter other locations, including Trois-Rivières, Saint-Hubert and Victoriaville. The latter could only be entered if the security guard ignored the date written on the driver’s license.
The affected national company
The SQDC declined our interview request, but maintained in an official statement that the journal’s experiment was a concern.
“The situation as you present it is certainly worrying. Given this information, the SQDC will re-emphasize the importance of systematic verification and legal age compliance with its teams and its external partners,” said the state-owned company, which has 98 branches.
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