Can U.S. border guards turn a Canadian away for saying I've smoked pot? (Yes.)

[Newsjock]

Source: The Globe and Mail

Q: I get really nervous when driving across the border, especially because I’ve heard the story of a friend of a friend who was banned from the U.S. on his way to Burning Man. He has no criminal record, but the officer asked him if he’d ever smoked a joint and he said yes. This sounds far-fetched, doesn’t it? Can I really get turned away at the border for saying I’ve smoked pot a couple of times in my life? — Martin, Calgary

A: If you tell a border official that you’ve smoked a joint or had a bite of that pot brownie – or that you plan to partake in legal weed in Washington or Colorado – your ability to freely enter the United States will go up in smoke.

“If you admit you’ve smoked marijuana or plan to, you can be banned permanently – there’s no due process, no right to a trial and it’s not appealable,” says Mark Belanger, a Vancouver lawyer who works on border issues. “Anything drug-related is typically a crime involving moral turpitude. Those are magic words and you’ll be banned from entering the United States.”

So, you don’t need to have a drug conviction to be turned away for drug crimes under Section 212 of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. A couple of puffs could be enough.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/culture/commuting/dont-be-nervous-how-to-cross-the-border-without-incident/article20492104/

[cali]

1. Lie. man, I remember the good old days.

I live close to the Canadian border and once, probably close to 30 years ago, I was driving back from Canada and there was a roach in my ashtray which I hadn't noticed but the border guard did. He just took it, gave me a look and let me go through. No ticket, nothing.

Times have changed.

[Chakab]

2. Indeed.

I grew up in Texas. Pre-9/11. I remember going back and forth across the certain crossings on the Mexican border without even being asked for ID just because I "looked American."

[jwirr]

6. We had seeds on the floor. Needless to say we did not get to go to Canada.

[msongs]

3. so why is gw bush allowed back in the country when he leaves? nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. The Canadians can be equally dickish. It goes both ways.

[hunter]

5. It's often retaliatory dickishness by the Canadians.

They see their citizens getting harassed, so they harass ours.

My kids will never experience the freedom crossing borders I enjoyed as a young adult, sometimes crossing borders both ways reeking of "moral turpitude."

I once had too much tequila in Mexico and the next thing I remember I was waking up on the floor of a San Diego apartment, next to a motorcycle, wondering how I'd got there.

Those days are gone.

My brother recently returned from a vacation in Mexico and they threw him into secondary inspection for several hours. They wouldn't even let him use the restroom.

He was sober, he had no no contraband, he had a passport, they just didn't like the California hippie look of him. They were just being dickish.