Super Bowl Contest Winner Misses Game Due To 1981 Pot Conviction
Super Bowl contest winner Myles Wilkinson was devastated when he was refused entry to the United States because of a 1981 pot conviction. The Vancouver, British Columbia resident paid a small fine for possessing marijuana in the early 80s and never looked back — until now.
Wilkinson won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl in New Orleans but missed the trip when the United States refused to allow him entry due to his previous crime. Wilkinson won the trip in a fantasy football league contest, competing against nearly four million other players. The grand prize was witnessing the National Football League championship, featuring the Baltimore Ravens, who ultimately beat the San Francisco 49ers.
Wilkinson was ready and excited and all packed for the trip. He headed to the airport but never made it past security. When he arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Thursday, US customs agents learned on a marijuana possession conviction and told him he was therefore not allowed to enter the country.
The Vancouver resident, who was 19 at the time of the conviction, told CBS, “I had two grams of cannabis. I paid a $50 fine.”
“I can’t believe that this is happening, for something that happened 32 years ago.”
While Wilkinson’s denial of entry into the US because of the conviction is a common one, the fact that he missed an all-inclusive trip to the Super Bowl is unique — and terrible.
Dana Larsen, director of the Sensible B.C. campaign, a group advocating for the decriminalization of marijuana, notes, “There’s hundreds of thousands of Canadians who have these criminal records for small amounts of cannabis and that results in a lifetime ban for accessing the U.S.”
Now that Washington and Colorado have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, Larsen’s group is pushing for B.C. to follow suit.
“Being a cannabis user should not be a criminal offense. It should be regulated and taxed and controlled, but it should not be banned.”
In 2011, there were reportedly 3,800 charges for possession in British Columbia. Larsen comments, “That means every day 10 more British Columbians face the lifetime stigma of a possession charge.”
Beer-maker Bud Light Canada sponsored the contest that Wilkinson won. To lessen the blow, the company invited him to attend its Super Bowl party at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom as their guest Sunday afternoon.
Hopefully Wilkinson was a 49ers fan and is at least a little bit relieved that he didn’t have to witness his team losing.
Do you think that people like Wilkinson should be denied access to the US due to possession of marijuana convictions?
[Image via Shutterstock]
