Canada will push the United States to change a border policy that has banned Canadians who admit to having used marijuana from travel to the United States, given Canada's plans to legalize pot, a government spokesman said on Friday.
The case of a Canadian man barred from U.S. travel because he admitted to having smoked pot recreationally has sparked a debate about U.S. border agents using a federal law against marijuana use, even though pot use is legal in several states and soon to be legal in Canada.
"We obviously need to intensify our discussions with our border authorities in the United States, including the Department of Homeland Security," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp late on Thursday.
"This does seem to be a ludicrous situation," he said, noting that marijuana is legal in Washington state as well as "three or four other jurisdictions in the United States."
