The guides
Getting started
- The meaning of "420 friendly" on a profile. The phrase has no single meaning, so this guide sets out the four common readings side by side, where "420" comes from, and related terms like "710 friendly." It covers how the phrase is used on mainstream apps, how to ask a match what they mean without making it weird, and why plenty of people who never use cannabis still write it on their profile.
- Stoner dating sites: what exists in Canada. Your choices, from general apps to international cannabis apps and Canada-only sites, with questions to ask before you sign up anywhere, what a first week tends to look like, pitfalls to avoid, and what changes if you live outside a big city.
Profiles and conversations
- Putting cannabis in your bio. Before-and-after examples and wording for regular users, occasional users, medical users and non-users. It also covers photos, privacy, writing in two languages, answering follow-up questions, and what to say when you're cutting back or in recovery.
- Dating someone who doesn't smoke weed. For pairs where one partakes and one doesn't: the smell question, shared homes, friends and family gatherings, raising children together, medical use, signs it's working, and when it honestly doesn't.
Dates and safety
- 420-friendly date ideas in Canada. Plans that work sober, for every season and budget, including rainy and cold-day options, accessible dates, dates around kids, how to suggest a plan in a message, and when cannabis might fit later on, and when it shouldn't.
- Cannabis and consent on dates. How impairment affects consent, how to recognise it, mixing cannabis and alcohol, what to do if you've had too much, how ages differ by province, and why being cannabis-friendly never means anyone owes participation.
- Meeting cannabis-friendly people in Canada. Making friends and finding dates through clubs, volunteering, LGBTQ+ spaces and online groups, with notes for shy people, shift workers, newcomers to Canada and French speakers, all while staying within provincial rules.
Each guide is split into short sections with plain headings, so you can jump straight to the part you need. Where guides overlap, they link to each other rather than repeating the same advice, and the safety and consent page and law page hold the rules that every guide relies on.
Comparing apps and sites? Those live in Comparisons.
Why we write these guides
The same questions come up again and again when people talk about cannabis and dating: what "420 friendly" really means, whether a stoner dating site exists, whether someone who doesn't smoke can date someone who does, and how to bring cannabis up without making it weird. We wrote these articles to answer those questions honestly, with Canadian rules in mind. None of them is advice to use cannabis, and none of them is a guide to buying it.
Questions the guides answer
A shortcut to the right page:
- My match wrote "420 friendly." Does that mean they smoke every day? Not necessarily; the explainer walks through the four common readings.
- I don't use cannabis. Will I fit in? Yes, and the mixed-couples guide covers how those relationships tend to work.
- How much should I say about cannabis in my bio? Usually a sentence or two; the bio guide has wording for every situation.
- What's a good first meeting that doesn't revolve around cannabis? The outing ideas list dozens, by season and budget.
- What if someone pushes me to use it? The consent guide and our safety page explain how to say no and how to report it.
- How old do you have to be? It depends on the province; the law page lists each one.
The rules behind every guide
A few principles run through everything we publish. First meetings are sober and in public. Nobody owes anyone participation, ever. Cannabis is never bought, sold or arranged through the site. And the legal age is the one that applies where you are, which our law page lists for every province and territory. If any guide ever seems to contradict those, the principles win, and we'd like to hear about it so we can fix the page.
If you don't use cannabis yourself
Several guides have a section written for you. The bio guide explains how to tell matches you abstain yet are happy dating someone who partakes. The stoner-site overview has a part for people who wouldn't call themselves stoners. And the mixed-couples guide looks at the relationship from both sides, including what happens when the person who doesn't partake changes their mind, in either direction.
Three tips from the guides
A sample of the practical advice inside, to show what each guide is like:
- Be specific in your bio. The bio guide suggests swapping a bare "420 friendly" for a detail, such as edibles a few times a year at the cottage, or CBD for sleep with no THC, so a match isn't left guessing.
- Make invitations easy to answer. The outing ideas recommend saying when, where and roughly how long, like coffee near their station on Thursday for an hour, which makes it simple to accept, adjust or decline politely.
- Check compatibility early. The mixed-couples guide suggests covering, early on, how often one of you uses, how the other feels about it, and any deal-breakers, kept factual rather than turned into a lecture.
Who the guides are for
Each one is aimed at Canadians who are at ease around cannabis, from daily users to people who never touch it. They're also useful for people who aren't sure how they feel about dating a cannabis user and want a fair picture. We try to give both sides their due, including the people who are tired of cannabis being expected in dating.
How we keep them accurate
Where a guide mentions the law, it follows what Health Canada and provincial governments publish, and the law page keeps the ages in one place. When we refer to other apps, we stick to what they say about themselves; for the detail, see Comparisons. We update guides when rules or facts change.
Local guides
For city-specific advice, including neighbourhoods, seasons and local rules, see our locations for Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa and Edmonton. French readers can start at Rencontres 420 au Québec, which includes a guide to « 420 friendly » in Québec French.
Where to go next
If you're new, how it works explains the site step by step, and features shows what each membership includes. If you've read enough and want to try it, create a profile and see who's out there.
Suggest a topic
If there's a question you wish we'd answered, tell our support team. Topics like dating while sober-curious, explaining cannabis to a match's parents, or handling it when one partner wants to quit are the kind of thing we'd consider. Suggestions help us decide what to write next. We won't write about buying, growing for sale or anything that breaks provincial law, but almost anything about relationships and cannabis is fair game.
How the guides connect to the rest of the site
The consent guide points to the safety page for reporting; the bio guide links to the how-it-works walkthrough; the outing ideas point to the six city pages for local spots. If a guide raises a question it doesn't answer, follow its links before searching elsewhere. French readers will find matching guidance, written for Québec, in the Québec section.