What Does Equivalency Factor Mean?

Canada has set a carry limit for cannabis of 30g, which is 2g over an ounce. This means you can legally walk out of our stores with up to eight half-quarters (3.5g) of flower products, plus a couple pre-rolls for the walk home. But once you get home, there is no more limit; you can store as much as you want at home (so, if you grow your own, no need to worry about how big your harvest is going to be). After dropping it off at home, you can come back and buy more! Sometimes rules are funny like that. 

But knowing your limit isn’t the only thing you need to consider. With multiple products available that have varying amounts of active ingredients, how do you know how many items you can purchase at once under the 30g limit? You have to understand what’s called the equivalency factor. In a nutshell, equivalency factor notes how one gram’s worth of a dry-weight flower can be interpreted as a volume rather than weight. For example, an equivalency factor of 5:1 means 5 mL of a cannabis oil product is the same as a single gram of dry cannabis flower.

How much is too much (to carry)

When legalization was launched, the equivalency was easy; flower gave us a 1:1 equivalence. With the launch of Cannabis 2.0, we are faced with some calculations that are harder to wrap your head around. 

As mentioned, in public, within Canada, you are legally allowed to carry up to 30 grams of dried cannabis/pre-rolls or the equivalent to 30 grams in oils/capsules or sprays. Caps and oil fall under the liquid product category, this is done by mass not volume or

concentration.

One (1) gram of dried cannabis is equal to:

• 5 grams of fresh cannabis
• 15 grams of edible product
• 70 grams of liquid/oil product
• 0.25 grams of concentrates (solid or liquid)
• 1 cannabis plant seeds

So that means?

These equivalencies tell us that you can legally carry up to 150g of fresh uncured flower, 450g/1lb of edibles (they weigh the edible itself rather than the cannabinoid content inside, this is also probably the reason why heavy metal can beverages take up so much of the equivalency), 2100g/4lbs of ingestible oils (the weight of the oil and bottle) as well as 7.5g of concentrates.

More cannabis math, great

Luckily, just like understanding the math required for reading cannabis labels, your local Budtender has a system in place to work it all out for you to ensure you aren’t going over your limit!