People Emigrating to Find Marijuana

There is an influx of people crossing states just to get some hands on legal marijuana. Some people are just looking to get their hands on some recreational marijuana so that they can get high. In addition to that, there are concerned parents that are trying to get some medicine for their children, traveling thousands of miles just to help reduce seizures, ease chronic pain, and more.

There are even people going across the country to be able to buy marijuana. A small group of people called, “international marijuana refugees,” are also working to get medical marijuana for the same reason that U.S. parents are. Of course, marijuana is not legalized in their respective countries.

One of the cases noted speaks of two year-old Tristan Forde and his mother. They moved thousands of miles all the way from Dunmanway, Ireland just to get medical marijuana in Aurora, Colorado. Because of the medical marijuana, the child went from having more than twenty seizures a day to having none, but the two will need to exit the United States by the end of 2016 when their visas expire.

“People bring kids to me from Germany, the Czech Republic—we’ve had them from all over,” medical marijuana producer in Oregon Sean Beeman reported. “Pot is everywhere, but this medicine isn’t. So that’s why people travel.”

Parents who try to get their hands on cannabis illegally in their countries can be imprisoned for long periods of time or even lose their children if they are found with the drug. Although we know it is happening, we are not aware of just how many families have come to the United States to search for medical marijuana.

Outreach director Nicole Mattison for nonprofit support of families looking for medical marijuana states that about four hundred families have moved to Colorado for that purpose. Again, this is an estimate and does not account for all the other states that have legalized medical marijuana.