It’s child’s play to enter the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) to buy products without being 21 years old. The newspaper took the test and managed to enter more than 50% of the branches visited recently.
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The author of these lines, who will be 21 years old at the end of the month, went to 25 branches of the SQDC in several regions between October 20 and November 3 to check if it was possible for him to enter to buy cannabis without having the legal age which is set at 21 in Quebec.
The finding is unequivocal: it was possible to pass security at 13 out of 25 branches using only real identity documents.
As part of this experiment, no cannabis products were purchased, as this would have been an offense.
However, the purchase would have been easily possible since no identification is required once at the counter. Verification is only done at entry.
Easy to Quebec and in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
In the greater Quebec region, four branches out of eight let us in, namely Sainte-Foy, Neufchâtel, Beauport as well as that of Vieux-Québec.
Journalist Nicolas St-Pierre enters an SQDC.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
The results were inconclusive during the other four attempts, but a man quickly volunteered to go buy cannabis for us after being turned away in Lévis.
The average of 50% was maintained during our visit to the four SQDCs in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.
For example, in Jonquière, the security guard hardly looked at the ID while in Alma, the agent even made a joke about our date of birth before letting us enter.
We were categorically refused access to the Saint-Félicien and Chicoutimi branches.
Even easier in Montreal
Our experiment on the island of Montreal began with three refusals in the SQDCs of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Anjou and Tétreaultville, but it was much easier during the following attempts.
Among the seven branches visited in the hours that followed, six of them were caught, namely: the Village, Métro Place Saint-Henri, Crescent, Métro Mont-Royal, Saint-Laurent and Saint-Denis–Rachel.
A security agent we met even asked the author of these lines what his year of birth was since he was not able to clearly distinguish it on the driving license which is not damaged. The latter then let us in.
In Montreal alone, 60% of the branches visited authorized the passage of a 20-year-old young man.
The newspaper also attempted to enter other locations including Trois-Rivières, Saint-Hubert and Victoriaville. It was only possible to enter the latter, where the security guard ignored the date written on the driving license.
The state corporation concerned
The SQDC declined our interview request, but maintained in an official statement that the experimentation of Newspaper raised concerns.
“The situation as you present it is certainly worrying. In light of this information, the SQDC will reiterate the importance of systematic screening and respecting the minimum legal age to its teams and its external partner,” indicated the state-owned company which has 98 branches.
