There’s good news for Canadians working in this country’s legal cannabis industry – you will be able to travel to the United States as long as your trip is not related to the cannabis industry.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has updated its website to confirm that while the U.S. laws will not change following Canada’s legalization of marijuana, it’s now saying who will and will not be considered admissible to the United States.
“A Canadian citizen working in or facilitating the proliferation of the legal marijuana industry in Canada, coming to the U.S. for reasons unrelated to the marijuana industry will generally be admissible to the U.S. however, if a traveler is found to be coming to the U.S. for reasons related to the marijuana industry, they may be deemed inadmissible,” the CBP statement reads.
In the lead-up to the legalization of recreational cannabis on Oct. 17, there was concern about Canadians being turned away at the border after people working in, investing in or making money from the cannabis economy were labelled “inadmissible” because they were considered to be living off the profits of the drug trade.
In August, a member company contacted VRCA to ask whether its employees could have trouble travelling to the U.S. if the company won a tenant improvement contract for a cannabis production facility.
The CBP statement now answers that question by making a distinction between the legal and regulated production and distribution of cannabis in Canada, and the illegal drug trade. Anyone involved in the illegal drug trade, or who is determined to be a drug abuser or addict, will continue to be inadmissible to the United States.
It’s also important to note that although medical and recreational marijuana may be legal in some U.S. States and Canada, the sale, possession, production and distribution of marijuana remain illegal under U.S. Federal Law. As such, crossing the border or arriving at a U.S. port of entry with cannabis may result in denied entry, seizure, fines and/or arrest.
Read the full CBP statement.