Well, be prepared to lie at the border - or be refused entry to the U.S.    
   Really.   
   This from the country we used to call  'Americans are our best friends'.   
   ______________________________   
   CBC News · Posted: Sep 14, 2018   
      
   Official tells Politico that threat of lifetime ban on entering U.S. may   
   extend to legal workers and investors   
      
   Shares in numerous TSX-listed marijuana companies were even more volatile than   
   usual on Friday after an official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection said   
   it's not just users of the drug who risk being refused entry to the United   
   States — even people    
   who work for and invest in the companies may too.   
      
   U.S. website Politico first reported on Thursday that even after recreational   
   marijuana use becomes legal in Canada next month, the U.S. will continue to   
   enforce rules concerning travel relating to the drug, which will continue to   
   be a banned substance    
   at the federal level even though numerous states have legalized it.   
      
   "If you work for the industry, that is grounds for inadmissibility," Todd Owen   
   of  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told Politico, adding that   
   investors in cannabis from other countries have already been denied entry.   
      
   "Facilitating the proliferation of the legal marijuana industry in U.S. states   
   where it is deemed legal or Canada may affect an individual's admissibility to   
   the U.S.," Owen was quoted as saying.   
      
   Those who admit to using marijuana are likely to have the same level of   
   scrutiny as before, but the report late Thursday suggested that the   
   consequences may soon extend to those who work and invest in companies   
   involved in the legal industry in Canada.   
      
   "As marijuana remains federally prohibited in the U.S., working or having   
   involvement in the legal marijuana industry in U.S. states where it is deemed   
   legal or Canada may affect an individual's admissibility to the U.S.," CBP   
   told CBC News in a    
   statement.   
      
   And lying to a border agent is itself enough to earn a lifetime ban, the   
   agency says.   
      
   Annamaria Enenajor, a criminal lawyer and executive director of the Campaign   
   for Cannabis Amnesty, said Friday that serious consequences are indeed   
   something anyone crossing the border needs to know about.   
      
   "If you have investments in cannabis companies, even companies that are   
   publicly traded, that could raise flags," she said in an interview Friday.   
      
   While she says she doesn't expect border officials will start asking detailed   
   questions on marijuana investments of everyone crossing the border, "if you're   
   stopped at the border and you face questions about your involvement with   
   cannabis, and you answer    
   those questions in the positive, you can face a lifetime ban," she said.   
      
   The CBP statement suggests enforcement agencies will consider Canadians   
   crossing the border on a case-by-case basis.   
      
   "CBP officers are thoroughly trained on admissibility factors and the   
   Immigration and Nationality Act which broadly governs the admissibility of   
   travellers into the United States," the agency said. "Determinations about   
   admissibility are made on a case-   
   by-case basis by a CBP officer based on the facts and circumstances known to   
   the officer at the time."   
      
   But there's much uncertainty as to how far the concept of "involvement" the   
   marijuana industry extends. Canadian Sam Znaimer was recently turned away and   
   banned for life at a crossing in Washington state because one of his many   
   business ventures is a    
   legal cannabis company.   
      
   His lawyer, Len Saunders, said Friday that the agency's latest comments came   
   as a surprise to him since he had assumed the government would take a "hands   
   off" approach to the drug once it was legal in Canada.   
      
   "Going forward, anybody involved in any cannabis industry, regardless of where   
   it's located, regardless of whether or not its legal in that state, province   
   our country will be deemed inadmissible to the U.S.," Saunders said, adding   
   that the news will    
   have a "chilling effect" on legal businesses in Canada.   
      
   "Whether it's people who are just front-line workers, or investors, or running   
   cannabis companies," he said, "if they find out you're involved, it's going to   
   create a huge impediment on cross-border business and people."   
      
   Anyone hit with a ban can apply for a waiver to exempt themselves, which can   
   be a costly and lengthy process. But if they plan to continue to be involved   
   in the cannabis industry, there's no point anyway, Saunders says.   
      
   "If you get it approved and you're still involved in that industry, there's a   
   very good chance you'll get it taken away," he said.   
      
   It's not immediately clear what level of involvement would constitute   
   ownership in a marijuana company.   
      
   The three most active shares on the TSX on Friday were marijuana companies.   
   The most active, Aurora Cannabis, saw more than 14 million shares change hands   
   in the first hour of trading — more shares than were traded in all five big   
   banks, and Rogers,    
   Bell, Telus and Suncor put together.   
      
   As members of the main TSX index, marijuana companies such as Canopy Growth,   
   Aphria, Aurora Cannabis and others are included in hundreds of mutual funds   
   and ETFs, which means owners of those funds are technically investors in   
   marijuana, too.   
      
   Shares in all those companies seesawed on Friday as gloom set in over the   
   sector. All the big names plunged at open, before recovering later in the   
   morning.   
      
   The two biggest pot companies — Canopy Growth and Aurora — saw their   
   shares fall 14 and nine per cent, respectively, on Thursday, the day the   
   Politico report came out.   
   _____________________________________   
      
   Time to snap up some more shares in pot-growing companies . . . . may as well   
   make some money while not traveling to the not-so-great-anymore Disjointed   
   States of America.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)