Neil Young has declared that he is being denied U.S. Citizenship due to his use of Marijuana. This conflict goes deeper than just the denied citizenship of the artist, Young feels it is a personal attack against him. In alignment with guidance which is issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services in April, any applicant who is found to have violated federal law on controlled substances, which includes the plant marijuana, could be found to be unfit for citizenship within the United States of America.
CNN stated that the Obama Administration had acquired a policy of, “non-inference,” considering the ideals of marijuana-friendly state laws. Soon after Obama’s end of office the Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the policy.
Neil Young has been battling with America on a few different fronts over the past few years. His song “Rockin’ in the Free World”, was played at a Trump rally back in 2016 without Young’s consent. At that time, the Trump campaign responded, “We will respect [Young’s] wish and not use it because it’s the right thing to do.”
Then in 2018, Young’s home was burned down in the wildfires. In which the President’s response to the cause of the fires was, “carelessness on California’s behalf for having poor forest management.” Then Neil clapped back saying, “California is vulnerable – not because of poor forest management as DT (our so-called president) would have us think. We are vulnerable because of climate change; the extreme weather events and our extended drought is part of it.”