Port Huron-Sarnia border sees spike in pot seizures

There has been an uptick in cannabis seized at the Michigan border since 2017, according to a representative with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Details about the increase “should be released in the coming weeks” when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security releases its end-of-year report. Multiple major shipments of cannabis were seized at the Sarnia-Port Huron border last year, including a string of incidents from August to October. During those incidents a total of 750 kilograms of cannabis was seized. Recreational use of cannabis became legal in Canada on Oct. 19 and weeks later Michigan also voted to legalize recreational use. But crossing into the United States is done through the federal border protection service and the United States as a country has not legalized cannabis. The good news is that incidents related to fentanyl, a potent opioid that has come under fire on both sides of the border, have not increased over the last few years. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection has only seen a handful of seizures of fentanyl at our border with Canada in Michigan,” since 2017, the spokesperson said, referring to the impending Department of Homeland Security report.

That does not include eight U.S.-bound shipments of fentanyl seized at the Port Huron border last weekend, during which nearly 600 grams of the drug were found in a bulk mail shipment. Total street value of the drugs was pegged at $15,000, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In January, London police conducted the biggest fentanyl raid in the city’s history, seizing nearly $300,000 worth of the dangerous street drug from a residential home.