Lily Kisilevich and her two best friends travelled to Montreal from Toronto over the holidays to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city — and also to buy pot.

Kisilevich, Meaghan Smith and Rylee Restoule are all 18, and in Ontario, the legal age to consume cannabis is 19.

So on Monday, despite a nasty weather cocktail of freezing rain and sleet, the trio waited patiently in a long line outside the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) store on Ste-Catherine St.

They were eager to purchase Purple Berry, Shark Shock and the store’s other brands. Still, Kisilevich was peeved about one thing: on Jan. 1, Quebec’s new pot-smoking age of 21 takes effect.

In a legal twist of fate, Quebec will go from having the lowest minimum age to use cannabis in the country  (along with Alberta, which is maintaining the age threshold of 18) to having the highest minimum age. And that means that for the time being, Kisilevich won’t be able to buy legal weed anymore — either in Ontario or Quebec.

“It’s not fair,” Kisilevich said. “The drinking age will stay the same in Quebec at 18, but you’ll have to be 21 to buy pot legally. It’s not consistent.

“It’s like they’re asking you to choose between your liver or your lungs,” Kisilevich added, as her friends nodded in agreement.

A moment later, and the security guard at the door asked the three to show their ID. They flashed their cards in an instant, shuffling excitedly into the store.

Quebec’s junior health minister, Lionel Carmant, has noted that the province now has the strictest cannabis law in the country. In addition to the highest minimum age, Quebec has legislated the lowest home-storage limit of cannabis of any province, at 150 grams. Most other provinces have not imposed limits.

Carmant has defended the decision to raise the legal age, arguing that it’s a matter of public health and keeping cannabis out of the hands of youth. He cited a study by Université de Montréal researchers that found that cannabis use by teenagers — even infrequent use — can adversely affect the skills necessary to succeed in school.

But most cannabis consumers interviewed outside the downtown SQDC outlet argued just the opposite, that the new age requirement will drive some 18-year-olds to buy pot that could be laced with LSD, cocaine and even heroin.

“The stuff here, you know it’s safe,” said 18-year-old Kevin Harder, who drove up to Montreal with his friends from Albany, N.Y., on Monday just to buy what he called “quality weed” from the SQDC.

“It’s really not a harmful drug,” Harder said of marijuana. “But by raising the legal age to 21, some people are going to buy weed off the streets and you don’t know what’s in it.”

Harder and his buddies had already rented an Airbnb nearby and were keen to buy some marijuana edibles at the start of a short trip to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Montreal.

But Harder vowed that he won’t return to Montreal next year after learning of the new minimum age.

“Your city is going to lose a lot of tourists because of this,” he said. “You’re going to lose a lot of tax revenue.”