Internet searches can limit your traveling

A couple of months ago, I mentioned in this post how a former drug or DIU conviction could get you turned back at the Canadian border. Well, it seems like it goes both ways.

The Nation’s Borders, Now Guarded by the Net

Andrew Feldmar, a Vancouver psychotherapist, was on his way to pick up a friend at the Seattle airport last summer when he ran into a little trouble at the border.

A guard typed Mr. Feldmar’s name into an Internet search engine, which revealed that he had written about using LSD in the 1960s in an interdisciplinary journal. Mr. Feldmar was turned back and is no longer welcome in the United States, where he has been active professionally and where both of his children live.

Mr. Feldmar, 66, has a distinguished résumé, no criminal record and a candid manner. Though he has not used illegal drugs since 1974, he says he has no regrets.

The major difference between the US and the Canadian policy, is that Canada requires a conviction, which the US apparently don't. An article about having taken drugs is apparently enough to be denied access to the US.

As the article makes clear, Feldmar has been in the US numerous times since the episode he described, without any incidents. Maybe the US border guards should be a bit more relaxed?