Canadian Wins Super Bowl Trip, US Won't Let Him In

Myles Wilkinson was caught with 2 grams of pot in 1981
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2013 3:23 AM CST
US Bars Super Bowl Contest Winner for Pot Bust
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are barred from the US because of minor marijuana busts.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

Myles Wilkinson is one unlucky contest winner. The British Columbia man beat nearly 4 million other fantasy football players to win an all-expenses trip to the Super Bowl, only to be turned back because of a decades-old pot conviction, the CBC reports. American customs agents told Wilkinson he was barred from the US because of his 1981 marijuana possession, when he was busted with two grams and paid a $50 fine.

"I can't believe that this is happening, for something that happened 32 years ago," says Wilkinson, who was 19 when he was arrested. Pro-legalization campaigners in Canada say this is a common story, as hundreds of thousands of Canadians are banned for life from entering the US because of criminal records for possessing small amounts of cannabis. Small consolation: Contest sponsor Bud Light invited Wilkinson to attend its Super Bowl party in Vancouver. (More Super Bowl stories.)

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