Article content

BLAINE, Wash. – Recreational marijuana has been legal here in Washington state since 2014. Adults just a few miles away in Canada also will be able to legally buy and smoke marijuana for pleasure starting in October.

But between them stands the U.S. border, a thin marijuana militarized zone, where the drug will remain forbidden by federal law.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Despite growing marijuana legalization, weed still on par with heroin at U.S.-Canada border Back to video

Though marijuana will be legal for medical or recreational use in many places on either side of the roughly 6,000-mile border – including Alaska, Maine and Vermont – the U.S. government routinely bars Canadians who admit to having used the drug from entering the country. And U.S. citizens who try to cross back into the United States carrying marijuana bought legally in Canada to states where it is legal to have it could be arrested at the border crossings for possession – or drug smuggling – and face stiff fines or years in jail.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made clear that he is reopening the door to greater federal enforcement against marijuana, and that agents on the U.S. border will continue to enforce federal law.