U.S. official: Canadian marijuana users, workers and investors risk lifetime border ban

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: September 14, 2018 at 8:45:42 PM GMT+9
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] U.S. official: Canadian marijuana users, workers and investors risk lifetime border ban
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> U.S. official: Canadian marijuana users, workers and investors risk lifetime border ban
> By LUIZA CH. SAVAGE
> Sep 13 2018
> <https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/13/canada-weed-pot-border-783260>
>
> Canadians who work in the marijuana industry — and those who invest in the booming pot sector — risk a lifetime ban 
> on travel to the U.S., according to a senior official overseeing U.S border operations.
>
> As Canada prepares to become the world’s only major industrialized nation to legalize retail marijuana sales starting 
> Oct. 17, the Canadian cannabis sector is projected to generate billions of dollars of revenue in coming years and 
> Canadians have flocked to take jobs and buy stocks in the burgeoning industry. But the move has potential to disrupt 
> border crossings between the U.S. and Canada for travelers who run afoul of American drug laws, even if their 
> activities are legal in Canada. 
>
> The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency will continue to apply long-standing U.S. federal laws and regulations 
> that treat marijuana as a banned substance — and participants in the cannabis industry as drug traffickers — who are 
> inadmissible into the U.S. Although some U.S. states have eased marijuana laws, the U.S. continues to maintain a 
> federal prohibition that applies at the border, said Todd Owen, executive assistant commissioner for the Office of 
> Field Operations, who gave POLITICO a detailed preview of how CBP will apply longstanding rules.
>
> Here’s exactly how it would work at the border: CBP officials are not planning to go out of their way to interrogate 
> every Canadian traveler about marijuana use. However, other factors may cause them to raise the topic. 
>
> “Our officers are not going to be asking everyone whether they have used marijuana, but if other questions lead there 
> — or if there is a smell coming from the car, they might ask,” Owen said. Likewise, marijuana residue, which can 
> linger for weeks inside a car, could be detected by CBP inspection dogs and lead to further questioning, he noted. If 
> asked about past drug use, travelers should not lie, he said. “If you lie about it, that’s fraud and 
> misrepresentation, which carries a lifetime ban,” Owen said.
>
> If a traveler admits to past use of any illegal drugs, including marijuana, the traveler will be found to be 
> inadmissible into the United States. CBP typically will allow them the opportunity to “voluntary withdraw” from the 
> border — or face an “expedited removal.” Whether or not the traveler enters the U.S., a record will be kept by CBP 
> and that traveler will not be allowed to return to the U.S. The traveler will have the opportunity to apply for a 
> waiver from a lifetime ban, which costs U.S. $585 and requires several months to process. The waivers are issued at 
> the discretion of CBP.
>
> CBP agents commonly ask travelers what they do for a living. Canadians who work in the marijuana industry will not be 
> permitted to enter the U.S. “If you work for the industry, that is grounds for inadmissibility,” Owen said. 
>
> Likewise, investors in marijuana companies are considered inadmissible. “We don’t recognize that as a legal 
> business,” Owen said. Already, marijuana investors from other countries, such as Israel, have been denied entry into 
> the U.S., he noted. CBP did not specify any minimum level of investment that could trigger a ban.
>
> “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.,” Owen said.
>
> Marijuana use could be particularly risky for professionals whose livelihoods depend on trusted traveler programs 
> such as NEXUS to enable frequent and fast crossings into the U.S., such as truck drivers or Canadian nurses who work 
> in U.S. hospitals. CBP has been alerting trucking associations in Canada that drivers will lose their NEXUS 
> privileges because of marijuana use.
>
> The criteria for inadmissibility to the United States are laid out in Section 212 of the U.S. Immigration and 
> Nationality Act. The statute lists criteria that make foreigners ineligible to receive visas and ineligible to be 
> admitted into the U.S. These include anyone “who is determined to be a drug abuser or addict,” as well as anyone who 
> “is or has been an illicit trafficker in any controlled substance,” or who has assisted in trafficking, or obtained 
> financial benefit from the activity.
>
> [snip]
>
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