Cannabis is legal in Canada, but there’s a clause that prohibits Canadians from leaving the country’s borders with a stash of weed.
Picture this: You’re travelling from Toronto to Vancouver with a stash of weed to contain your medical condition, or for recreation. But a problem crops up in the skies; the plane you’re travelling in hits headwinds and is diverted to the nearest airport, which happens to be in the US.
There’s no doubt that you’ll have to wait for long, so you need to disembark and check into customs. What do you do with your stash, considering that Canadians aren’t legally allowed to cross their borders while in possession of cannabis?
Believe it or not, this scenario played out recently in Air Canada’s flight AC125, en-route to Vancouver, from Toronto. Due to a mechanical hitch, the pilot announced an emergency landing and taxied into a Seattle airport.
According to an immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, you shouldn’t risk harsh punishment form the US when you find yourself stranded in the US with a stash of weed. All you need to do is to flush it.
He says that in case of an emergency landing on US soil, authorities will not spare you on condition that you’re a Canadian and are legally allowed to carry cannabis in Canada. They will subject you to harsh US anti-cannabis laws.
He said that this was the most sensible way of getting rid of cannabis, and advised airlines to allow their passengers to make a beeline for the washrooms should they find themselves in such a situation.
For those who pack their stash in their carry-on bags, there’s no way of escaping the trip to the washroom. But those who pack their weed in their baggage can sit tight, hoping that the baggage won’t be unloaded.
The bad news is that airlines aren’t expected to help you in such a situation. In fact, according to an Air Canada spokesperson, any passenger who is found in possession of cannabis in an emergency landing to another country should be prepared to pay any fines, and to find their way home after that.