Student, who does not have a criminal record, baffled after being ‘totally honest’ about her past
BY BRIAN MORTON, VANCOUVER SUN SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
A White Rock woman en route to Washington state Saturday morning says she was turned back at the Douglas border crossing and barred from the U.S. because she admitted smoking marijuana several days earlier.

“I think it makes no sense,” said Jessica Goldstein, who maintains she was interrogated for several hours for simply telling the truth.

“I’m 30, a university student, and I cross the border weekly to buy my gas and groceries. I own a vacation property near Mount Baker. My father is American, I have family in California. I’ve spent thousands of dollars in the U.S. It doesn’t make any sense to me why they’d turn me away.”

Goldstein said her treatment is especially galling because voters in Washington and Colorado in November voted to make their states the first in the U.S. to permit the use of recreational marijuana.

Goldstein said she and two friends were headed to the Dave Matthews concert at the Gorge Amphitheatre. While attempting to cross the border, the U.S. customs agent asked her if she’d ever used marijuana.

She replied that she’d used marijuana the weekend before, maintaining to The Vancouver Sun that she’d been asked the same question in the past and allowed through after answering that she had smoked pot.

“I’m with two friends, (and) about an hour later, they question us one at a time. (The agent) interrogated me for about three hours and asked questions about my background, history and family and drug use. I was just totally honest.

“She asked how long I’d smoked pot for. I said about 10 years.

“Then she asked how many times I’d smoked pot in the my life. I didn’t know the exact number; probably around 500 times.

“Then she gave me a paper saying I was inadmissible to the U.S. and that I can’t cross unless I get a waiver. They turned us around and we had to drive back.”

According to Goldstein’s statement at the border crossing, which she provided to The Sun, she admitted to the agent that she’d smoked marijuana about a week ago and “casually on weekends.”

She said in her statement that she had also used ecstasy once and mushrooms twice about 12 or 13 years ago.

Goldstein told The Sun that she travels to the U.S. regularly for gas and groceries and that acquiring a waiver would take about six months and cost $600 to apply.

“I have no criminal record, no charges whatsoever,” she added. “I’ve never been arrested, and no illegal activities.”

Goldstein, the driver of the vehicle, said one of her passengers also admitted smoking marijuana but was not barred from entering the U.S.

“I feel I’ve been wrongfully accused,” added Goldstein, a web design and web development student. “I haven’t done anything. I wasn’t carrying anything, my truck was clean. I’m just an honest person. I can’t lie about these things, and don’t feel I should have to.”

She said she was labelled a habitual drug user, “and I don’t know on what grounds.

“I’d spent hundreds of dollars on my concert tickets and camping passes. I was heading down to the Gorge to the Dave Matthews concert for Saturday and Sunday night. I ended up giving my tickets away.”

Michael Milne, public affairs officer for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Tuesday he was unable to speak about specific cases due to U.S. privacy laws, and had no information about how many Canadians have been turned back at the border after admitting marijuana use.

However, in an email response, he provided several rules used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for barring foreign aliens at border crossings.

Those considered inadmissible include anyone who is determined to be a drug abuser or addict, and those who have been convicted of, or voluntarily admit to having committed a crime involving moral turpitude, or who admits committing acts which constitute a violation of any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country related to a controlled substance.

As well, Milne referred The Sun to an Aug. 29 statement by Jenny Durkin, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, on federal marijuana enforcement policy in Washington and Colorado in light of the states’ vote to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In her statement, Durkan said that although her department won’t challenge the legalization laws at this time, it will continue to enforce the Controlled Substance Act.

As well, she said: “We will continue an aggressive focus on the promotion and sale of drugs to minors, violence and the use of firearms, and the trafficking of marijuana across state or international lines.”

bmorton@vancouversun.com

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