| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
indicaspice
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 1491
Location: somewhere on earth
|
 Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:15 am Post subject: OLD DRUG CHARGE HAUNTS TRAVELLER |
 |
|
| Quote: |
A city man says his vacation with his wife was ruined after he was detained at the Los Angeles airport because of a 25-year-old drug charge and treated like a suspected terrorist.
"They basically stole my vacation," said R.M. Singh, a 45-year-old bookkeeper. "Nobody should be treated like that. Even if they have the worst record, they should not be treated like scum. They should be treated with dignity and respect."
Singh and his common-law wife Darlene Loupret were transferring planes at Los Angeles International Airport Saturday when he was hauled out of the United States customs line into a detention area.
Loupret was told she could take their luggage and leave.
The couple was on vacation in Australia for four weeks visiting Loupret's daughter and then in Singapore for one week before heading home Saturday.
"The whole process was very, very demoralizing," Loupret, 47, said. "We were both trying to speak to the different officers and find out what the problem was and why they were doing this, and they would not answer us."
And while she said she can't prove it, she suspects her husband's last name and his Indian heritage figured into how he was treated. "They were basically treating him like he was a terrorist,"she said.
Singh said he doesn't blame customs officials for pulling him over to ask questions about the 25-year-old conviction for possession of a quarter-gram of hashish. He pleaded guilty and was fined $100.
But he said there was no need to treat him like dirt and common sense should have prevailed once they realized the drug charge was decades old.
From the moment Singh was taken into the detention area, he said he wasn't allowed to sit with his wife and he had to ask permission to go to the washroom or for a cigarette.
During a brief encounter with Loupret, who was near tears as she waited for him, Singh said a customs officer prevented him from hugging her.
Singh said a customs officer took his passport and citizenship card. He immigrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago in 1970 and has been a Canadian citizen since 1979. He said officers repeatedly asked him the questions about where he was born, his purpose for visiting the U.S. and whether he'd be making a claim to stay in the country.
Singh said he thought they were trying to catch him in a lie.
He said he was also subjected to an invasive body search and he thought they were looking for wires or weapons.
After nearly nine hours in the detention centre - the couple had long since missed their flight home - a customs officer wrote "ordered removed" on Singh's passport.
Officials then rushed Singh and Loupret onto the next flight to Canada. The couple was flown to Vancouver and had to arrange their own flight back to Edmonton. Fortunately, Singh said, Air Canada got them a flight home.
Singh said he has travelled to the U.S. about 8 to 10 times since his drug conviction and never before had a problem. He said he's now not allowed to set foot in the U.S. and will have to apply for a waiver to travel through the U.S. |
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1920/a09.html?134
_________________
What worries you masters you.
Haddon W. Robinson |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
zero
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 1579
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
Im sure Ill encounter this myself someday soon.
Our system does not work.
_________________
www.shoutwire.com
www.spikedhumor.com
"I understand that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tafari
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Oregon Coast
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
quarter-gram of hashish  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
indicaspice
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 1491
Location: somewhere on earth
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'm wondering how long they will hold drug charges against someone. This case is 25 years old. It doesn't appear the man has had any other drug related charges in those 25 years and yet, he is treated like this.
_________________
What worries you masters you.
Haddon W. Robinson |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Torkel
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1396
Location: West Virginia, USA
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
indicaspice wrote:
| Quote: |
| This case is 25 years old. It doesn't appear the man has had any other drug related charges in those 25 years and yet, he is treated like this. |
...because the gov't of the USSA is INSANE.
No use pretending it's not. 
Peace,
Torkel
_________________
Miller vs U.S. (230 F 2nd 486,489): "The claim and exercise of a Constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime."
Miranda vs Arizona (384 U.S. 436, 125): "Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule-making or legislation which would abrogate them."
HAGANS vs LAVINE (415 US 533 N-3,note 5): "Once JURISDICTION is challenged it must be proven by the Plaintiff." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Urbanhog
moderator
Joined: 22 Apr 2003
Posts: 338
Location: Tropical Queensland, Australia
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Bloodly Seppos 
_________________
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
--Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
indicaspice
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 1491
Location: somewhere on earth
|
| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hot damn, it gets worse. Apparently now if you have any unpaid fines for even parking tickets they can nail you at the border.
_________________
What worries you masters you.
Haddon W. Robinson |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
Public Forum
Members only forum
Members Group
| 
