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Canadians who admit to ever having used marijuana, no matter how long ago, already face lifetime bans on entering the U.S. And senators, who are currently studying the bill that is to usher in the legalized cannabis regime this summer, have been warned by at least one immigration lawyer, Len Saunders, that the number of banned Canadians could skyrocket once legalization goes into effect.

Saunders, a Canadian who has practised immigration law in Blaine, Wash., for 15 years, said in an interview that when he first set up shop in the U.S. border town, he would see one or two cases a year of Canadians barred entry after admitting to a border officer that they’d used cannabis at some time in the past. They would come to him to apply for waivers that would allow them to enter the U.S. temporarily.

Once Washington became the first state in 2012 to legalize marijuana, Saunders said the number of such cases shot up to one or two a month. Now, as Canada is on the cusp of legalization, he said he’s getting one or two cases every week and he predicts that will become “a tidal wave” once legalization actually goes into effect.

Saunders said the biggest problem will be Canadians operating under the false impression that American officials won’t penalize them for admitting to cannabis use — or to any involvement in the industry — once it’s legal in Canada.

On just one day this week, Saunders got a call from a Vancouver company who had three senior executives barred for life from entering the U.S. because the company sells a product used to trim marijuana plants. The executives didn’t realize that selling that product — which is not in itself illegal — would tag them, in the view of border officials, as being involved in the drug trade, he said.