Pot may burn government workers at border crossing

VICTORIA B.C.’s solicitor general said he’s extremely concerned that the United States might bar provincial government employees from travelling across the American border because they work in the province’s new legal cannabis branch.

Mike Farnworth said Monday he’s aware of a threat by U.S. border officials to deny entry to anyone involved in Canada’s marijuana industry, which becomes legal Oct. 17.

That has raised the risk that hundreds of B.C. government employees could find themselves unable to travel to the United States because they staff the new public cannabis retail stores and distribution branch, including front-line workers, managers and even ministry officials.

The first B.C. government store in Kamloops will open on the day federal legalization takes effect.

“We’ve been making it clear to the federal government that this is a serious issue,” Farnworth said. He called it an “unintended consequence” of Canada’s legalization.

“It’s a real issue and a real concern and there’s going to need to be a lot of education done about this issue right across the country.

“We as a province want to make sure that British Columbians understand what it means to cross the border and to understand the risks, particularly with the Trump administration in power.”

One potential workaround for the B.C. government could be to drop the cannabis name from its new stores, thereby providing some cover for employees who could claim they work for the provincial liquor branch. Farnworth would not confirm that particular tactic was under consideration, but said: “We’re looking at what the options are to deal with this issue.”

Although Canada will legalize marijuana Oct. 17, the substance remains illegal in the U.S. and anyone trying to cross the border who is involved in the “sale, possession, production and distribution of marijuana” could be denied entry, fined or detained, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday.

“As marijuana remains federally prohibited in the U.S., working in or facilitating the proliferation of the legal marijuana industry in U.S. states where it is deemed legal or Canada may affect a foreign national’s admissibility to the United States,” the U.S. border agency said in a statement to Postmedia News.

One of the U.S. border agency’s top officials recently told news site Politico that if anyone admitted to border officials they have used marijuana in the past or work in the business in Canada, they would not be allowed entry into the country. Border agents routinely ask travellers what they do for a living.

“If you work for the industry, that is grounds for inadmissibility,” Todd Owen, executive assistant commissioner for the border service’s field operations office, told Politico.

The border agency’s comments are bad news for Canada, said Len Saunders, an immigration lawyer based in Blaine, Wash.

Already, Canadians who invest in cannabis-related businesses have found themselves turned back at the U.S. border.

“This is a worst-case scenario for Canadians,” said Saunders. “I’ve been saying the same warnings for the last two years. Canadians have to be very careful entering the United States if they have any involvement in the marijuana industry.”

B.C. government employees who work in cannabis retail stores will be unionized public servants. The government intends to expand the cannabis-only retail stores in coming months, as well as license privately run stores.

“Definitely our members working in government cannabis stores could be impacted and we’ve been working with the employer to make sure they are aware of that,” said Danielle Marchand, a spokesperson for the B.C. Government Services Employees’ Union.

The declaration by U.S. border officials could put public and private employees, as well as those who grow the government’s legal supply of marijuana, in a no-win situation at the border.

Refusing to answer a question about your profession will almost certainly get you turned back by border officials, said Saunders. But lying about your job or attempting to skirt the truth about your connections to the cannabis industry could land you a lifetime ban, he added.

“Instead of telling the truth at the border, if it gets you into anything regarding marijuana, whether you work for it, who you work for, you need to answer nothing,” said Saunders.

He said the Canadian government has done a “horrible” job communicating the potential legal consequences of its marijuana changes.

“What the Canadian government has done is putting at risk hundred of thousands of Canadians who are either involved in the cannabis industry or are potentially going to purchase it when it becomes legal and admit to that at the U.S. point of entry,” he said.

“The Americans don’t care. They are just enforcing their federal immigration laws.”