Cannabis Rules in Surrey, Langley & White Rock (BC Guide)

Last reviewed: October 2026

Cannabis laws in Surrey, BC, and in neighbouring Langley and White Rock come from three levels of government. Federal law sets the national framework and the public possession limit. The Province of British Columbia sets the legal age, retail rules and the main rules on public use. Each municipality then adds its own bylaws for parks, patios, building entrances and other public spaces. This guide brings those rules together for adults 19 and older, with links to the official sources.

It is general information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the linked government pages before relying on any detail. Green Express is a planned delivery service for Surrey, Langley and White Rock. Our BC cannabis retail licence application with the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB) is in progress, and we are not taking orders.

The BC basics for adults

These rules apply the same way in all three communities. The Province summarizes them on its possession and purchasing limits page.

Age: you must be 19 or older to buy, possess or use non-medical cannabis in BC. Giving or selling cannabis to anyone under the legal age is against the law.
In public: an adult can possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, or the equivalent in other forms (see the equivalency table below).
At home: up to 1,000 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent. This limit is per household, not per person.
Buying: a single purchase can be up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent.
Edibles: a legal edible cannabis product cannot contain more than 10 mg of THC per package.

Home growing: four plants per household

BC allows up to four cannabis plants per household, no matter how many adults live there. Plants must not be visible from a public place such as a park, street, sidewalk, sports field or K-12 school property, and they cannot be grown in a home licensed for child care. Landlords and strata corporations can restrict or prohibit growing, so check your tenancy agreement or strata bylaws first. Growing more than four plants requires a medical authorization or a production licence. The Province explains these limits on its sell or grow cannabis page.

Cannabis in vehicles

In BC it is illegal to consume cannabis in a vehicle or boat, whether you are driving or riding as a passenger. Limited exceptions exist, such as a motor home or camper used as a residence while parked in a campsite or other designated camping area. You can carry up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent in a vehicle if it is in its original unopened packaging. If it is unpackaged or the package has been opened, it must be stored where the driver cannot reach it, such as the trunk.

Impaired driving

Driving while impaired by cannabis is against the law. The Province’s cannabis and driving page explains that charges can apply when a blood sample shows more than 2 nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood, with more serious charges above 5 ng/mL, or above 2.5 ng/mL combined with alcohol. Separately, a driver can receive an immediate 90-day Administrative Driving Prohibition when a sample taken within two hours of driving is over 5 ng/mL, or over 2.5 ng/mL with alcohol present. Drivers in BC’s Graduated Licensing Program face a zero-tolerance rule for any THC, with an immediate 12-hour suspension. If you have used cannabis, do not drive.

Crossing the border

South Surrey sits on the Canada-US border, so this rule matters locally. Health Canada states that it is illegal to take cannabis and cannabis products, including products with CBD, across the Canadian border. That applies even if cannabis is legal where you are going. See Health Canada’s Cannabis Act overview for details.

Possession limits and equivalency

The 30-gram public possession limit is written in terms of dried cannabis. Federal law sets an equivalent for each other product class so that any mix of products can be measured against the same limit. The same equivalents apply to BC’s 1,000-gram household limit and 30-gram purchase limit. Health Canada’s public possession calculator does the arithmetic for you.

Product class	Amount that counts as 1 g of dried cannabis
Dried cannabis	1 g
Fresh cannabis	5 g
Solids at room temperature with up to 3% THC (for example, solid edibles)	15 g
Non-solids at room temperature with up to 3% THC, other than beverages	70 g
Beverages with 3% THC or less	570 g
Concentrates with more than 3% THC (for example, vape liquids and hash)	0.25 g
Cannabis plant seeds	1 seed

For example, a 1-gram concentrate product counts as 4 grams of dried cannabis toward the 30-gram public limit, while a 1-gram pre-roll of dried cannabis counts as 1 gram. Medical cannabis patients may have different limits.

Where BC bans smoking and vaping cannabis

Under provincial law, adults can generally smoke or vape cannabis in public places where smoking and vaping tobacco is allowed. The Province’s where you can consume page lists the exceptions. Smoking or vaping cannabis is not allowed:

at playgrounds, sports fields, skate parks, swimming pools and spray pools, including their decks and seating areas
in provincial, regional and municipal parks, except in some designated areas and campsites
in, on or near school properties, including the roads and sidewalks that run alongside them
inside public buildings and workplaces, or within 6 metres of their doorways, windows and air intakes
within 6 metres of a bus stop, transit shelter, train station, ferry dock or similar place

Rental property owners can restrict tenants from smoking or growing cannabis, and strata corporations can pass bylaws that restrict or ban it. Municipalities can also set their own rules, and Surrey, both Langleys and White Rock all do.

Surrey bylaws on smoking and vaping cannabis

Surrey’s rules add to the provincial list, and in some places they reach further.

Parks: the City states that smoking, including vaping, is not permitted in any Surrey park. The City lists Crescent Beach and Blackie Spit Park among its parks, so the rule applies there too.
Buildings, patios and transit: Surrey defines smoking as inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying lighted smoking equipment that burns tobacco or another substance. Its property use bylaws page lists places where smoking is prohibited, including buildings where the public is invited; customer service areas of businesses such as restaurants and pubs, including their patios, balconies or yards, whether or not they are enclosed; taxis; buses; and bus shelters.
Doors, windows and air intakes: Surrey prohibits smoking within 7.5 metres of any opening into a building. That is a wider buffer than the 6 metres in the provincial rules.

Complaints go to Surrey bylaw enforcement. An officer explains the rule first, and municipal tickets or court proceedings can follow if complaints continue. Planned delivery details for the city are on our Surrey delivery page.

City of Langley and Township of Langley: two sets of bylaws

Langley is two separate municipalities with separate councils and bylaws: the smaller City of Langley, and the Township of Langley that surrounds it, which includes communities such as Willoughby, Walnut Grove, Murrayville, Brookswood, Fort Langley and Aldergrove. A Langley mailing address can belong to either one, so confirm which municipality covers a location before relying on a bylaw.

City of Langley

The City’s Smoking Regulation Bylaw No. 2792 names cannabis and electronic smoking devices in its definition of smoking. Under it, a person must not smoke:

in a building, with exceptions such as a private dwelling unit
in an enclosed or partially enclosed shelter where people wait for public transit
within 6 metres of any door or window that opens, or any air intake, of a building
in a customer service area such as a restaurant patio, or within 6 metres of its perimeter
cannabis in any vehicle, or anything in a vehicle for hire such as a taxi
cannabis in any area that may be frequented by children, including City parks and public facilities

The bylaw lets tobacco be smoked in designated, signed smoking areas in parks and public facilities, but that exception does not cover cannabis. On conviction, the bylaw sets a fine of $50 to $2,000 per offence.

Township of Langley

The Township states that smoking in all forms, including tobacco, cannabis products and e-cigarettes, is prohibited in its parks. Its Public Spaces Regulation Bylaw, summarized on the property use regulations page, prohibits smoking in parks, playgrounds, recreational facilities, trails and school spaces unless the Township or the school district has designated an area for it. The Township has said that people who do not follow the bylaw may face fines.

Our Langley delivery page covers the planned service area in both the City and the Township.

White Rock: the pier, promenade and beach

White Rock’s waterfront is where its rules come up most often. The City’s Public Health Smoking Protection Bylaw prohibits smoking in any outdoor gathering place under City jurisdiction, including parks, sports fields, playgrounds, the promenade, the pier and the beach. According to the City’s cannabis policy page, the bylaw was updated in July 2018 to list cannabis, and it treats e-cigarettes and vaping as a form of smoking.

The bylaw also prohibits smoking:

within 7.5 metres of a customer service area, including a patio connected to a business that serves food or alcohol
within 7.5 metres of an entryway, a window that opens or an air intake of a building

Anyone smoking where it is prohibited may be ticketed, and business owners or operators can also be fined. The same waterfront areas matter for delivery: the pier, promenade and beach are public places, so a planned Green Express delivery would never be handed over there. See our White Rock delivery page for the planned service details.

Buying from licensed retailers and the excise stamp

In BC, non-medical cannabis may be sold only by retailers licensed or authorized by the Province. The LCRB licenses and monitors private cannabis stores, and the Province publishes an interactive map of legal cannabis stores along with a downloadable list on its store locations page. A legal store displays its provincial licence or authorization number, posters on responsible cannabis use, and a “licensed retailer” decal on the window.

The package itself carries a federal cannabis excise stamp, applied so that it seals the package. According to the Canada Revenue Agency, the stamp shows that cannabis duty has been paid for the province where the product is sold. Each province and territory has its own colour band, and British Columbia’s is teal. Each stamp also carries a unique identifier made of capital letters and numbers. Low-THC cannabis products, which contain no more than 0.3% THC by weight, and prescription cannabis drugs do not have to be stamped. The CRA advises consumers that if they do not see the excise stamp, they should not buy or use the product.

Health Canada’s guide to reading a cannabis product label explains the other markings, including the standardized cannabis symbol and the health warning that every product must show in a yellow box on the front of its label.

Green Express does not hold a BC cannabis retail licence. Our application with the LCRB is in progress, and the site shows a menu preview only.

How these rules shape planned Green Express delivery

If our licence application is approved, planned delivery would follow BC’s rules for cannabis delivery by retail stores, along with a few policies of our own:

adults 19 and older only, with valid government-issued photo ID checked at the door
the recipient’s name and signature recorded at handover
orders never left unattended
delivery only to street addresses in the planned delivery area, never to parks, beaches, piers or other public places
a maximum of 30 grams of dried cannabis equivalent per order
opaque, sealed packaging
as BC rules require, any order that could not be delivered would be returned to the retail store the same day

Delivery hours will be posted before ordering opens; BC rules allow delivery between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. You can read how delivery works, or check your postal code to see whether your address is in the planned delivery area.

Frequently asked questions

What is the legal age for cannabis in Surrey, Langley and White Rock?

You must be 19 or older. The provincial age applies across BC, so the same rule covers buying, possessing and using non-medical cannabis in all three communities.

Can I smoke or vape cannabis on the White Rock pier or beach?

No. White Rock’s Public Health Smoking Protection Bylaw prohibits smoking, including vaping, in outdoor gathering places under City jurisdiction, and it names the pier, the promenade and the beach.

Do the City of Langley and the Township of Langley have the same cannabis rules?

The provincial rules are the same in both, but the bylaws differ. The City of Langley bans smoking cannabis in vehicles and in any area that may be frequented by children, including parks and public facilities, and sets 6-metre buffers around building openings and patios. The Township prohibits smoking in all forms in its parks, playgrounds, recreational facilities, trails and school spaces unless an area has been designated.

Can a passenger use cannabis in a car in BC?

No. BC law prohibits consuming cannabis in a vehicle or boat whether you are the driver or a passenger, with limited exceptions such as a motor home used as a residence while parked in a designated camping area.

Is Green Express taking orders?

Not yet. Green Express is a planned delivery service, and our BC cannabis retail licence application with the LCRB is in progress. The site shows a menu preview only. You can check your postal code to see whether your address falls in the planned delivery area.

Cannabis Rules in Surrey, Langley and White Rock: What Adults Need to Know