Great moments in law enforcement
Andrew Feldmar is a Vancouver psychotherapist. In 1981 he used LSD. In 2001 he wrote about it. So, in 2005 he was denied entry to the US because he had admitted using drugs. Because, you see, we don’t allow people who use drugs to enter the US. (Reported by the NY Times, May 14, 2007, p. A12. You can also read about it here
Once again, the mind boggles. Mr. Feldmar has never been convicted for using drugs, the U.S. Border Patrol, evidently with a lot of time on its hands, ran a Goggle search (apparently) and discovered this fact.
And this exclusion was not an accident – it is policy that any use of drugs, no matter how long ago, no matter if no criminal action was taken – gets you banned from the US.
In what way is this man a threat to the US? Just how is it that people never convicted in a court can be regarded as felons?
Some questions come to mind. Has any Hollywood star been banned from entering Canada, or any Canadian actor banned from the US? Not of course, to suggest that they might have used drugs. Well, we did keep Cat Stevens out, but that was because he converted to Islam and therefore must have become a terrorist.
And what about writing in support of Mr. Feldmar – would that be “aiding and abetting”, or perhaps “conspiracy to commit” the same things that got him banned?
What about murders who have served their time? I couldn’t quickly lay hands on any documents that provide the rules for what can get you banned from the US. But it seems unlikely that we prohibit everyone with a felony conviction from entering.
Once again we spend resources on things that are not problems and therefore have no money to stop the real problems.
We generally have pretty low standards for our boarder patrol, one of the least intelligent departments of our government, but this seems a new low.