Canada became the second country in the world to legalize marijuana nationwide in June, and sales are expected to begin this month.
Workers in the industry were reportedly facing a lifetime ban, and US Customs and Border Protection said that working in the industry “may affect admissibility to the U.S.”
CBP changed its mind this week, and said that those working in the industry for “reasons unrelated to the marijuana industry will generally be admissible to the U.S.”
The US has decided not to ban people working in Canada’s legal marijuana industry from entering the country for pleasure, despite its earlier stance that working in the industry could affect people trying to enter and reports that marijuana workers could face a lifetime ban.
US Customs and Border Patrol had previously said that working in the industry “may affect admissibility to the US” because “as marijuana continues to be a controlled substance under United States law.”
CBP updated its statement this week, however, and said that “a Canadian citizen working in or facilitating the proliferation of the legal marijuana industry in Canada, coming to the U.S. for reasons unrelated to the marijuana industry will generally be admissible to the U.S.”
Shares of Canadian cannabis companies were down in September after a Politico report citing a senior official overseeing the US border said that Canadians who work in the marijuana industry risked a lifetime ban on travel to the US.
Canada became the second country in the world to legalize marijuana in June paving the way for recreational sales throughout the country. Sales are expected to begin this month and legalization officially takes effect.
The bill was part of a promise that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party made during the 2015 campaign to keep marijuana out of young people’s hands and move the illicit market into a regulated framework.