Have US border guards gone a little OTT

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
This month Mathew Harvey was excluded from entering the US for life for answering truthfully when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service asked if he had ever smoked pot recreationally.

"They said that I was inadmissible because I admitted to smoking marijuana after the age of 18."

For the rest of his life, Harvey and other Canadians in his position must now apply for advance permission to enter the U.S. as a non-immigrant. The travel waiver, which costs $585 US ($752 Cdn), is granted on a discretionary basis, which means it may be good for a year, or two, or five, depending on the discretion of the approval officer.

I suspect if Canada CBSA reciprocates and US citizens are truthful we will have very few US citizens crossing the border into Canada!.:rolleyes:
Max.
Not to start a competition with you, Max. But on this side of the border there are quite a few horror stories as well.
 

RichardO

Joined May 4, 2013
2,270
No but you can still be excluded from some forms of Federal employment ( in positions with access to sensitive information in law enforcement) as a citizen. Certain other three letter agencies don't really care about early use more than ten years ago. In my Navy clearance case the FBI (who conducts all SSBI's for TS level workers) asked family and friends and teachers and employers a lot of different questions so I didn't LIE to them about youthful enlightenment.
I have a friend that has a security clearance. He gave my name as a reference for the background check. The "interview" was interesting. It was done in my living room by a straight-laced Air Force officer in uniform. He did not fill in any form -- in fact all he had was a blank sheet of copier paper that he took notes on.

I thought that the most interesting question he asked was something like this:
"Does your friend have any drug, money or marital problems?"

I suspect that no one of my generation would get a clearance if they asked:
"Has he ever used drugs?"
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
I have no idea how long the feds can keep the pot war going. Day I was downtown Portland at the Convention Center. The place was loaded with cops and lots of security as quite a few 'celebrities' were there. Across the street was one of 'Portland's Finest' stores with people buying and using the stuff. Anyone who wanted could have just walked across the street and legally bought a muffin, candy or a roll of joints. Amazingly, the world didn't end because of it.

https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/portland/portlands-12-best-recreational-marijuana-shops
 
Top