Canadian Users of Legalized Marijuana Could Face Lifetime Bans From US, Warns Top Trump Border Official

As Canada prepares to legalize marijuana nationwide beginning October 17th, a high-level official in the Trump administration says the United States will now start implementing possible lifetime bans on Canadian citizens who are cannabis users, industry workers, or investors.

In an extensive interview with Politico, Todd Owen, the executive assistant commissioner for the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations, said, “Our officers are not going to be asking everyone whether they have used marijuana, but if other questions lead there—or if there is a smell coming from the car, they might ask.”

If such history is learned about someone trying to cross the border, Owen explained, or they lie about it, “that’s fraud and misrepresentation, which carries a lifetime ban.”

As it stands, anyone who admits to using an illegal drug, regardless of its status in their home country, can be barred from entering the U.S.

While nearly all border states have some form of legalized marijuana use, it remains illegal under U.S. federal law, which classifies those who work in the marijuana industry as drug traffickers.