Connect with us

Woman Says Lifetime Ban from US for Crossing Border with CBD is Lifted

Woman Says Lifetime Ban from U.S. for Crossing Border with CBD Lifted
Shutterstock

World

Woman Says Lifetime Ban from US for Crossing Border with CBD is Lifted

In the process of applying for a waiver to enter the country again, her charges were reversed.

Ongoing confusion surrounding CBD laws in the United States occasionally causes difficulties for travelers.

In some cases, airline passengers have found themselves in trouble after TSA discovers them traveling with CBD. Most recently, a woman from Canada was barred entry into the U.S. because she was carrying medicinal CBD oil. However, in a surprise move, U.S. officials overturned her ban less than two weeks later.

Woman Barred From Entering U.S.A.

In late August, a 21-year-old woman traveling from Canada to the U.S. was denied entry into the country and faced a possible lifetime ban. The decision came when border guards found CBD oil in her backpack.

The woman, who is a student at the University of Guelph in Ontario reportedly travels to the U.S. frequently. And she has never run into trouble with border guards—until her most recent trip.

This time, a U.S. border official in Blaine, Washington searched the woman’s belongings.

Eventually, the border agent found a bottle of CBD oil. The woman said she takes CBD oil medicinally, to help alleviate pain associated with scoliosis.

At the time of the incident, the woman told CBC News that she had no idea carrying medical CBD oil was against the law, especially since weed is legal in Washington.

The woman said she knows that travelers are not allowed to carry actual weed across the border, but did not think that applied to CBD oil that contains no THC.

After the border guard found her CBD oil, the woman was denied entry to the U.S. Additionally, she was fined $500 and fingerprinted.

Further, she was also told that she would be barred from entering the U.S. ever again, but that she could request a waiver with a special application and a $585 fee.

“There seems to be a lot of confusion with Canadians entering the U.S. with regards to CBD and THC and all the derivatives from marijuana,” the woman’s lawyer, Len Saunders, told CBC News.

“From my experience, if anything is coming from the marijuana plant, even if it’s an oil or a gummy candy, it seems to be grounds not only for inadmissibility and fines but also a lifetime ban.”

U.S. Officials Reverse Their Decision

Following the incident, the woman said she began the process of applying for a waiver. That’s when she received some unexpected news.

Last Friday, the woman was contacted by a U.S. border supervisor. The official informed her that the decision to bar her from entering the U.S. had been overturned.

As a result, the woman will not have to complete the waiver application. Similarly, she will not be required to pay the $585 fee as part of the waiver application process.

“My reaction obviously was shock,” Saunders told CBC News after his client told him the news. “I was shocked that it was such a 180-degree turn from basically being barred from life to being told that they had on their own reviewed the case and had basically reversed their decision.”

At this time, it is unclear exactly how U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reached the decision to reverse the woman’s ban.

More in World

To Top