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Crossing The Line
By Hempology | June 4, 2002
From MONDAY MAGAZINE
Monday, June 3rd, 2002
For most of us, summer means time to travel. But if youre one of the 1.5 million Canadians who have a criminal record for simple possession of marijuana, you might want to reconsider if youve booked a vacation in the United States.
Post 9-11, more people are being questioned, and therefore more people are being turned away for these types of grounds, says Greg Samuels, a U.S. immigration lawyer based in Vancouver. Theres a lot of stress at border crossings, and U.S. officials are likely to exercise their considerable discretion against anyone whos a problem. Its much more common now.
According to government manuals, U.S. immigration officers are supposed to deny entry to anyone whos ever violated any law or regulation relating to a controlled substance.
(They can also refuse anyone convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude, which can include anything from murder to sodomy.)
But it goes further. Even if your criminal records clean, just admitting that you once smoked pot is enough to keep you outas gold-medal snowboarder Ross Rebagliati learned in February, when U.S. border cops refused to let him travel to Salt Lake City as part of Whistlers Olympic bid committee. Rebagliati eventually got in, but had to submit fingerprints, a doctors letter certifying he was drug-free, and $195 U.S. for a temporary waiver of his offence, plus have a lawyer plead his case to immigration officers.
He was lucky: Canadians with criminal records for minor drug offences usually wait up to 10 months to hear whether theyre entitled to a waiver, which is only valid for one year. And if they ever apply to live or work in the States, theyre often turned down flat. Michael Jacobsen, the Vancouver lawyer who represented Rebagliati, says he has one client who cant get into the U.S., even though hes married to an American, because he has two minor pot convictions. There can be some really serious impact on their future mobility.
But if youve got a record and youre still determined to travel south, theres always a way.
I go where they dont do a lot of computer work, says one B.C. drug reform activist, whos made it across the border several times recently to attend conferences. Avoid airplanes, trains and ferries where your name ends up on passenger lists, he advises, and never travel by bus, because customs officers treat bus passengers like dirt.
Instead, he suggests, youre best bet is to cross in a recent-model car, owned and driven by somebody with a clean record. To Americans, an automobile is the surest sign of respectabilityand you dont need a lawyer to tell you that.
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