Marijuana: Know before you grow (or buy, or sell, or transport, or handle.…)
By: Jim Pettinger, President at UCanTrade, Inc.
Whether you are crossing the Canada/USA border for business or pleasure, DON’T ASSUME ANYTHING about the “legalization” of marijuana. Some provinces and states have changed their laws, and the Canadian government is set to possibly legalize recreational use sometime in 2018. However, the U.S. federal government has not changed any laws; it still considers marijuana to be a “controlled substance” and does not recognize any difference between medical and recreational use. Attorney General Jeff Sessions does not indicate that will change any time soon.
Consequently, any connection to marijuana whatsoever, may result in serious consequences. For example U.S. immigration attorney, Greg Boos, of Cascadia Cross-Border Law in Bellingham cites an example of a person residing in the U.S. with “green card” status who works for a marijuana retail shop. If they should apply for citizenship, they could be immediately deported for “trafficking”. And, as this article in Rolling Stone describes, mentioning any use or connection to marijuana when attempting to enter the USA could result in being deemed “inadmissible”, with possible banishment from the country for life.
TradeTips blog is published by UCanTrade, Inc., your cross-border experts since 1984.
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