Pubdate: Sat, 17 Sep 2016
Source: Medicine Hat News (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.medicinehatnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1833
Author: Peter Mueller
Page: B9

U.S. POT LAWS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Sometimes we hear or read things in the news that are simply
questionable. Then we read further and realize that, yes, someone
actually did this or said that, or accomplished this or that. And our
understanding of the world grows, and our credulity is assigned new
standards.

There have been many of these kinds of stories in the news lately. I'm
not referring to the apparently endless crassness, ignorance,
maliciousness, and world endangering policies of Donald Trump here.
Nor am I referring to the strange questionnaire issued by federal
Conservative leadership hopeful, Kellie Leitch, about whether
immigrants should be vetted for "anti-Canadian values." (What would
these values be? Who decides?)

This is the same Conservative MP who championed the niqab ban during
the last election campaign, a nonissue that significantly hurt the
Conservative cause, and was really a thinly disguised attempt to climb
onto Donald Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric at the time. Just another
example of the Harper Conservatives taking their inspiration from the
American Republican playbook.

No, I'm not talking about these cultural and political aberrations.
I'm referring here to a more recent story, one that makes Jonathan
Swift's stories of travels to the lands of the Lilliputians and the
Brobdingnagians seem like National Geographic specials. I'm referring
to a story so bereft of common sense and justice that even the
greatest satirist in the English language would struggle to ridicule
it.

America. The land that time forgot. The only major country that still
refuses to use the metric system. The only country where "Homeland
Security" is not perceived as an example of Soviet doublespeak. The
only country where, though four state legislatures have already
legalized marijuana use (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington),
national border guards can still bar anyone who admits to having tried
a puff or two. This is a country where a person with a high school
diploma and a gun and some border training has the power to ban a
Canadian citizen, never charged, let alone convicted of any crime. For
life.

Imagine the following situation: A young man from Victoria intends to
spend a few days in Tacoma, Wash., to visit friends and attend a small
birthday party. Rather than bringing party supplies across the border,
he has chosen to purchase these when he gets to Tacoma. He will be a
paying guest contributing to the economy of the state of Washington.
And he will be breaking no laws.

The young man arrives at the border crossing. A border guard comes out
to check documents and ask the usual questions. Our young man is asked
if he is visiting Washington for business or pleasure. Pleasure, he
says, and mentions meeting friends for a small birthday gathering. The
guard checks the passport and asks if our young Canadian has ever
tried marijuana. Yes, of course, he says, beaming with honesty.

The border guard asks our young man to park his car and come inside.
He is handcuffed, and interrogated. He is then informed that he has
shown himself to be of "moral turpitude," and is therefore barred from
entering the United States and banned for life.

Wikipedia informs us that "moral turpitude is a legal concept in the
United States…that refers to conduct that is considered contrary to
community standards of justice, honesty or good morals. This term
appears in U.S. immigration law beginning in the 19th century."

The case above is real. I've shortened and changed a few details of
the story which was aired on CBC last week. It was presented as just
one example of what is happening in America today. Banned for life.
For showing "moral turpitude." And this in the state of Washington,
where the community has legalized the use of marijuana, not just for
medical use, but for recreational use as well.

No law was broken. Rather the young man's character was judged using
an antiquated social and legal concept - moral turpitude! And this is
on the eve of the Canadian Parliament legalizing and regulating the
use of pot nationally this spring! Oh Canada! Land of Moral Turpitude!
Time to stand up and diplomatically urge our muddled big brother to
join the 21st century.

In the U.S., Canadians are presently banned for life for, um, not
abiding by the community standards of the 1950s. Will this make the
nation safer, cleaner, and more orderly? Will the homeland be more
secure? This could be a funny story, except that it's true, and lives
and careers are being damaged. Unnecessarily and unjustly.

One needn't be an advocate of marijuana to see the strangeness of this
situation. One needs only to believe in justice. Jonathan Swift,
America needs you.

Peter Mueller is a long-time resident of Medicine Hat who, in spite of 
all the evidence, continues to believe we can build a better world.
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MAP posted-by: Matt