Pot’s unintended consequences

Re Canadians who smoke marijuana legally, or work or invest in the industry, will be barred from the U.S.: Customs and Border Protection officials, Sept. 14 I was shocked when I read that Canadians who are legally using marijuana or are legally invested in the industry are being denied access into America.

People who are diagnosed with fatal illnesses and go through tremendous amounts of pain use medicinal marijuana to ease the pain and make their lives better. These people don’t smoke marijuana for “recreation.” Rather, they use it to make their troubles easier. It’s unfair to deny these people entry. I also believe it’s egregious to deny people who have a legal investment in the marijuana business because it shouldn’t be the border officials’ business what people do for their jobs. It’s especially appalling when you think of the huge advertising industries pro- moting alcohol. Members of this industry easily pass between countries, even though alcohol claims more lives per year than marijuana use.

I would also like to bring attention to a weakness in this law. It states that only Canadians aren’t allowed to pass because of marijuana involvement.

But how about people from other countries who use marijuana legally? Are they allowed to pass freely? Fardin Alam, Ajax If the U.S. chooses to bar entry to Canadians engaging in an activity legal in Canada but illegal in the United States (smoking pot), Canada should respond by barring entry to U.S. citizens engaging in an activity legal in the U.S. but illegal in Canada — owning an unregistered handgun. Scott Heaslip, Stouffville I certainly agree with the comments by letter writer Larry Comeau regarding the unintended consequences of legalized pot that will affect Canadians at U.S. border crossings. I predict that such a worry is just the tip of the iceberg, and there will be dozens more consequences to frustrate and annoy law-abiding Canadians.

Like the liquor laws of the 1920s, we may eventually see an off-again, onagain replay of “prohibition.” George Dunbar, Toronto

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