Pubdate: Thu, 30 May 2002
Source: Monday Magazine (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Monday Publications
Contact:  http://www.monday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1150
Author: Jackie Cade

CROSSING THE LINE

Travelling Stateside? Think Twice If You've Smoked Pot

For most of us, summer means time to travel. But if you're one of the 1.5 
million Canadians who have a criminal record for simple possession of 
marijuana, you might want to reconsider if you've 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. There's a lot of stress at border 
crossings, and U.S. officials are likely to exercise their considerable 
discretion against anyone who's a problem. "It's much more common now."

According to government manuals, U.S. immigration officers are supposed to 
deny entry to anyone who's 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 record's clean, just admitting 
that you once smoked pot is enough to keep you out--as 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 Whistler's Olympic 
bid committee. Rebagliati eventually got in, but had to submit 
fingerprints, a doctor's 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 they're entitled to a waiver, 
which is only valid for one year. And if they ever apply to live or work in 
the States, they're often turned down flat. Michael Jacobsen, the Vancouver 
lawyer who represented Rebagliati, says he has one client who can't get 
into the U.S., even though he's married to an American, because he has two 
minor pot convictions. "There can be some really serious impact on their 
future mobility."

But if you've got a record and you're still determined to travel south, 
there's always a way.

"I go where they don't do a lot of computer work," says one B.C. drug 
reform activist, who's 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, you're 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 respectability--and you don't need a 
lawyer to tell you that.
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