Border reality check on cannabis — get ready

Senior American border officials confirm what many have already warned: If you have anything to do with the legal cannabis business in Canada, you aren’t welcome in the U.S.

That is, if you smoke it, if you have invested, if you work in it or a related field, you can be turned back at the border and banned from entering the country. That screech you hear is the rubber hitting the road. Is it a reasonable position to take? Of course not. Nine states in their own country allow recreational use of cannabis. It’s not a sensible or businesslike way to treat your closest neighbour. But in Donald Trump’s America, this is what we get.

So check your investment portfolio. If you as much as own a mutual fund that has interest in legal marijuana, you can be denied entry. How much ownership? Border authorities aren’t saying, so the only safe assumption is none.

Some have criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for not putting pressure on Washington. He has not and should not. It’s their border and it’s their business. Cannabis is still a crime in U.S. federal law, and the government can allow or disallow who it wants from crossing their sovereign border.

Our advice? Stay home and spend your money here or in another jurisdiction where Canadians are still appreciated.

Legalizing cannabis for recreational use still makes sense for a host of legal, law-enforcement and social reasons. But there’s no free lunch. This is a cost we will have to pay until the United States has sensible leadership again. Sooner or later, that’s bound to happen.