Prince Harry shoots himself in foot as US visa at risk over drug use admission | Royal | News

Prince Harry could see his visa revoked after admitting to using drugs in a televised therapy session, Piers Morgan pointed out. Speaking to famed therapist Dr Gabor Mate for his programme The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, Prince Harry said he started using drugs after realising they helped him cope with his trauma. But Morgan noted US officials “take a dim view of drug use by non-US citizens” as he noted the Duke of Sussex’s US stay could now be at risk.

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The presenter said: “Harry has barely finished the global family trashing tour in support of his treacherous family trashing memoir, inevitably he’s decided the world hasn’t heard quite enough from him

“So Harry’s latest wheeze is a live therapy session with Dr Gabor Mate – a famed trauma expert – in which he reminded us again that he, Harry, is the world’s biggest victim.”

Discussing his relationship with drugs, the Duke of Sussex told Dr Mate: “I started doing it recreationally and then started to realize how good it was for me.

“I would say it is one of the fundamental parts of my life that changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and the pains of the past.”

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Morgan suggested Prince Harry may now be forced to skip his father’s Coronation on May 6 to avoid being barred from returning to the United States because of his admission.

TV chef Nigella Lawson was forbidden from boarding a flight to the United States in 2014 after admitting to having taken cocaine during an unrelated trial.

The Sky News Australia contributor added: “Another compelling reason why we don’t want them at the king’s coronation, we might end up being stuck with them for good.”

READ MORE: The seven clues Harry and Meghan may decline Coronation invite

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, visa applicants “who are found to be drug abusers or addicts are inadmissible” to the US.

The terms regulating how to assess whether someone is a habitual drug user are set under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.

But under rules changed in 2010, “a history of experimental use” can “no longer play a direct role in the admissibility determination” border officers have to make when assessing a visa claim.

However, precedent exists where foreign nationals applying for entry to the US were denied on criminal grounds despite having no conviction to their name.

Laura Devine Solicitors senior attorney Karnig Dukmajian told Vice in 2019: “The law says that if you have been convicted of a US or foreign law relating to controlled substances, or if you have admitted to violating such a law, then you are inadmissible to the US.”

Referring to the case of Brit Isabella Brazier-Jones, who was denied entry to the US after a two-year-old message about cocaine was found on her phone, Dukmajian noted US officials had become stricter when it comes to admitting people who used drugs in the past.

He added: “There are legal standards the authorities are supposed to follow, but recent experience has shown that a simple admission to having possessed a controlled substance is being deemed sufficient to refuse entry.”

Prince Harry has been residing in the United States since March 2020, when he and Meghan Markle moved their home to California after six months spent in Canada.

The couple has since settled with their two children in Montecito, in the suburbs of Santa Barbara.

Harry and Meghan last week received an invite to the King’s Coronation, which will take place on May 6 in London.

But the couple has already said they will not be confirming quite yet whether they will make it across the Atlantic for the service.

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*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.

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