Even though marijuana is legal in Colorado, because it is still illegal on the federal level, any job in the industry can be classified as trafficking in a controlled substance – something that is not necessarily a concern to industry’s state-licensed employees, except non-citizens.
As Colorado Public Radio reports, just having a job in a marijuana dispensary or grow house can get even a legal resident deported and banned from the US – sometimes for life.
The Marijuana Industry Group, a business and lobbying association, recently partnered with Servicios de La Raza, which offers services to low-income people, to create a public service announcement explaining all the ways that involvement with marijuana can get non-citizens thrown out of the US.
Even tourists who purchase marijuana at a Colorado pot shop are being warned about customs agents who are increasingly searching phones and social media.
And as long as Congress remains deadlocked on immigration, “just say no” seems to be the only option for non-citizens right now.
