Cannabis Keeping Canada Snowboard Champ Out of U.S.

Yahoo News ^ | Wednesday February 6

[bird4four4]

Cannabis Keeping Canada Snowboard Champ Out of U.S. VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A controversy over marijuana did not stop Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati from winning a gold medal in the 1998 Olympics, but it may be enough to keep him from going to this year's competition in Salt Lake City as a spectator.

Rebagliati, whose medals will be on display in Utah, has run afoul of U.S. law that lets immigration officials bar entry for foreign citizens who have admitted past drug use, even if they have never been arrested or convicted of a crime.

Rebagliati, 30, and retired from Olympic competition, said he found out last month he was on a list of people barred from entry, when a U.S. immigration officer refused to let him to go to Las Vegas on a business trip and warned he could be arrested if he attempted to enter the United States again.

``It is frustrating, that's for sure,'' Rebagliati told CBC Radio.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said on Tuesday that people without criminal convictions can submit drug test evidence ``to prove they're clean.'' But Rebagliati has told reporters that will not help him in time to attend the games that open on Friday.

The Whistler, British Columbia, resident shot to fame in the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan when he won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in snowboarding competition, only to have the medal taken away when a post-race drug test found traces of marijuana in his blood.

An International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) arbitration panel quickly restored the medal because there had never been an agreement between the IOC and the International Ski Federation that marijuana should be treated as a banned substance.

Rebagliati said at the time he had given up smoking pot before he decided to compete in the Olympics. He argued the drug traces in his blood probably came from second-hand smoke at a party he attended in Whistler before traveling to Japan.

Canadian officials will have Rebagliati's medals on display at the Canadian pavilion in Salt Lake City, and an audio recording of his voice is scheduled to be played during the snowboarding competition.

[bird4four4]

The US sensible drug policy at work. If you admit to drug use in the past you can not enter the country... but you can be President. ;^)

[ladtx]

And your point is.............?

[steve50]

Past two presidents have been coke heads and drunks, former VP smokin weed while running for Senate. Now what were they saying about sending the "right message" to our youth about drug use?

[BrooklynGOP]

That's bull. Weed has nothing to do with performance and thus is irrelevant to olympics.

[CJ Wolf]

gee you can't figure that out? What does that say about you?

[cactmh]

who are the two coke heads?

[CIB-173RDABN]

If he did not use drugs, he would not have this problem.

Don't like the current drug laws, get them changed.

[steve-b]

Rebagliati, whose medals will be on display in Utah, has run afoul of U.S. law that lets immigration officials bar entry for foreign citizens who have admitted past drug use, even if they have never been arrested or convicted of a crime.

Gee, maybe there oughta be a law that lets immigration officials bar entry for foreign citizens who have connections to terrorist organizations (though, admittedly, this is a lower priority than stamping out the Demon Weed With Roots In Hell[tm]).

[Britton J Wingfield]

I admitted to smoking dope as a teenager, and the US military was still happy to have me. This guy can't come watch the olympics? Sheesh.

Wait until little prince harry tries to visit...

[ladtx]

It says nothing about me, the poster made no point, only an allusion to something I'm supposed to guess about. Sorry, I failed mindreading in school.

[steve50]

klintoon would be the only one you would acknowledge

[Dog Gone]

I've got a friend who has an arrest warrant out for him in British Columbia because the guide he hired for a bear hunt there didn't have a proper permit. My friend had all the proper licenses, etc., and had no idea that the guide didn't have his paperwork in order.

Needless to say, my friend won't even fly a commercial flight that crosses Canadian airspace today.

I don't want to hear any crying about this incident from Canadians.

[gdani]

OUTRAGEOUS!!!

A snow-boarder using marijuana is like uh, like uh, ......basketball player being tall!!

[steve50]

Good point, now we must keep the future ruler of England out of the country, can't have a double standard.

[Seruzawa]

Ach Ja! Der Land des Frei!!

[Rain-maker]

the poster made no point, only an allusion to something I'm supposed to guess about

What? I take it english is your 2nd language?

[ladtx]

Actually it's my third language. I usually talk american, but texan is my native tongue, tho' I sometimes lapse into english.

[bird4four4]

You missed my point? Point was the absurdity of our nations drug laws. If an olympic gold medalist said back in 1998 that he gave up pot, that puts him on a list of poeple ineligable to enter the country? That's absurd! Compare that to how easy it was for jihadists to overstay on student visas.

[caisson71]

The "past president" was also a draft dodger, rapist, lier and an impeached president. So we don't do it right all of the time. Get over it. If the Canadian pot head can't control his excesses, he can stay home and abuse himself. His self indulgence is apparently more important to him than participating in the Olympics.