Immigration officials have barred 1998 gold medalist Ross Rebagliati entry to the U.S. because he is an admitted marijuana smoker, according to Reuters News Wire. Officials claim they are enforcing a federal law that allows the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) to forbid entry to foreign citizens who have admitted past drug use, even if they have never been arrested or convicted of a crime.
“Not only is this law patently absurd, it is clearly selectively enforced,” said Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation. “If Ross Rebagliati is forbidden from entering the U.S., how is it that Sir Paul McCartney – an outspoken marijuana activist and convicted pot smoker – was allowed entry to this country to perform at last Sunday’s Super Bowl? Apparently, these regulations are as subjectively applied as the general laws prohibiting marijuana.”
Rebagliati tested positive for pot after winning the 1998 gold medal in snowboarding. He said he quit smoking the drug in 1997, and blamed the positive drug test on exposure to second hand smoke. He was eventually allowed to retain his gold medal.
Rebagliati wished to enter the U.S. to attend the upcoming Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and also visit his mother, who lives in California.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director, at (202) 483-8751.