Marijuana & Immigration

Maine (and many other states) have legalized medical marijuana and legalized recreational marijuana possession, use, growing and sales, but marijuana is still ILLEGAL under FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW. Maine State laws DON'T change immigration laws.

If you are NOT a U.S. Citizen you can NOT have, use, grow, or work with marijuana in ANY state!

If you are not a U.S citizen and are found to have used marijuana, worked in a marijuana business, grown marijuana or helped another person use marijuana, you can face serious immigration problems. You may even be barred from getting a green card or U.S. citizenship and may be deported. This is true even if you were never convicted of a crime and the marijuana was legal under state law.

Immigration officers and Immigration doctors are now asking immigrants if they ever used, grew, gave away or worked with marijuana– especially when they come from states like Maine, where marijuana is legal.

 
 
 

How to Protect Yourself

  • DON'T use or possess marijuana in any form until you are a U.S. citizen.

  • DON'T work in a marijuana shop, business, or a marijuana farm.

  • DON'T grow, sell, or give away marijuana. If you have a serious medical need and there is no good substitute for medical marijuana, talk to an immigration lawyer first.

  • DON'T leave the house carrying marijuana, a medical marijuana card, paraphernalia (like a pipe), or accessories like marijuana T-shirts, hats or stickers.

  • DON'T have photos or texts about marijuana on your phone, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or anywhere else.

  • DON'T talk about marijuana use with an immigration or border official, or immigration doctor, unless an attorney told you to. If an immigration official asks you about marijuana, say that you don’t want to talk to them and you want to speak to a lawyer. You have the right to remain silent. Visit our Know Your Rights page to learn more. Stay strong – once you admit something, you can’t take it back. If you do admit to conduct involving marijuana to an immigration official, get legal help quickly.

 
 
 
 

for Partners

You can help ILAP spread this information by sharing it with your networks. Click below to download ILAP’s Marijuana Awareness Campaign: Social Media Toolkit that includes sample posts along with multilingual graphics and PDFs to share. Thank you!

 

Learn More

For Noncitizens

For Lawyers

For Advocates and Lawmakers