Masse sounds alarm over potential peril facing pot users entering U.S.
With the legalization of marijuana less than a week away, MP Brian Masse is expressing alarm about the potential peril for Canadians crossing the border. Use of cannabis remains a crime under U.S. federal legislation, leaving Windsorites — especially commuters — vulnerable to questioning by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers about their use of the drug, according to Masse (NDP — Windsor-West). “It’s totally unacceptable there has been so little information or conversation on warning people about the border,” he said Thursday while standing near the entrance of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. “There have been multiple indications this has already been a problem. Canadians have been detained (for marijuana-related issues), sent back and some people even banned from entering.” There are roughly 33 million vehicle trips across the U.S.-Canada border annually, yet the federal government hasn’t worked out an agreement with the U.S. or staged public discussion on how people who use marijuana legally in Canada will be treated when they try to enter the U.S., the MP said.
Even Canadians who don’t use cannabis, but have bought shares in marijuana-related companies or work in the industry, could be subjected to U.S. scrutiny. Being banned from entering the U.S. could create huge problems among the thousands of local people who commute daily to jobs in Michigan.
Masse had hoped that borderrelated issues around marijuana would have been ironed out as part of the recently negotiated USMCA free trade deal that replaces NAFTA.
“It was not raised as an issue,” Masse said. “The reality is that, at the border, it will still be regarded as a narcotic and remain illegal under U.S. federal law. “They have had months to get ready for this, but the federal government has chosen to ignore the elephant in the room. There has not been an adult conversation between two nations (that) are on a different path with regard to cannabis.”
Messages left with U.S. Customs and Border Protection — to ask how officers intend to question Canadians about their cannabis use — weren’t returned on Thursday. Masse suggested families should have conversations about using cannabis and crossing the border.
“If you have a job, or are dependent in some fashion on going over there, you better make sure there is nothing in your car and you are well-versed on what you want to say when crossing the border,” he said.
He advised against lying to U.S. customs officers, since that would bring another series of “potential ramifications,” Masse said. Masse said he’ll continue to exert pressure on the federal government “on the seriousness” of potential job-related, personal and business ramifications at the U.S. border created by legal marijuana use.
“The prime minister has admittedly used cannabis, yet he gets treated one way going into the U.S.,” the MP said.
“I don’t think other Canadians can expect the same attitude. Just ignoring this issue isn’t going to make it go away.
“I want to see a formal agreement with the U.S. at some point on this. There can’t be a continuation or just a wait-and-see what happens on this.”
There has not been an adult conversation between two nations (that) are on a different path with regard to cannabis.