BANGOR — The top U.S. Border Patrol agent in Maine cautioned residents Monday that officers will still confiscate marijuana when they encounter it and that even family connections to the cannabis industry can disqualify someone from federal employment.

Chief Daniel Hiebert, who heads the Houlton sector of the Border Patrol, said Maine voters’ legalization of recreational marijuana last November and the state’s well-established medical marijuana program do not change his agents’ obligation to follow federal law.

And while Hiebert said Maine’s Border Patrol agents are not actively searching for marijuana, they won’t ignore the drug if they encounter it while carrying out their security responsibilities along Maine’s more than 600-mile border with Canada.

So Hiebert has a message to Mainers legally possessing marijuana – either medical or recreational – near the border.

“Be careful,” he said. “If they want to keep their marijuana, don’t do anything that is going to get our agents’ attention.”

Hiebert also said marijuana usage – or even connections to the state’s growing cannabis industry – could prevent Mainers from getting a job with the Border Patrol and some other federal agencies. Like many Border Patrol offices across the country, the Houlton sector is currently understaffed and facing a shortage of qualified applicants for open positions. [Read more at Portland Press Herald]