Canada has legalized pot for recreational use. But the United States still considers it a deadly drug, on par with heroin. If a Canadian pot smoker entering the US through Washington state (where pot is legal under state laws) tells a US Border agent that they have smoked pot even once in their life, they will be turned away. If they lie and the agent finds evidence on social media that they are fibbing, they will be barred from entering the US for life.
From Splinter News:
As Politico points out, these rules may be even more problematic for those working in Canada’s new weed industry, which is expected to bring in billions of dollars. They’d be considered drug traffickers by the U.S. government. Customs and Border Patrol agents often ask those crossing the border what they do for a living. “If you work for the industry, that is grounds for inadmissibility,” [Todd Owen, the executive assistant commissioner for the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations] told Politico.
Even investors in the industry may face being banned from entering the country (those investing in the legal industries in countries like Israel already have encountered these problems). “We don’t recognize that as a legal business,” Owen said. “Facilitating the proliferation of the legal marijuana industry in U.S. states where it is deemed legal or Canada may affect an individual’s admissibility to the U.S.”
Image: arindambanerjee/Shutterstock. TORONTO – MAY 5: A Marijuana activist showing victory sign during the 14th annual Global Marijuana March on May 5 2012 in Toronto, Canada.