Medical Marijuana Passes Through Airports

By Jessica Headley

Airport security used to be the end of the line for travelers holding medical marijuana. Now some passengers report airports and TSA looking the other way.Medical marijuana patients reported no problems as they boarded with carry on luggage and cannabis plants through airports in states that were both medical marijuana friendly and not.However, officials with TSA say it isn’t in their jurisdiction. TSA leaves it up to local law enforcement, and officials say they call local authorities to handle all known cases involving individuals in airports carrying medical marijuana or cannabis plants.One TSA spokesperson, Dwayne Baird, commented “State laws supersede what we would do in the aviation sector, and it would be up to the local law enforcement officials to determine the action they would take based on whatever the person was trying to bring on board an aircraft.”Jason Christ with Cannabiscare says, “People don’t know where to get seeds. They don’t know where to get clones. They are afraid to drive through states. To go through California to Montana, say to get a good strain from California, I would have to drive through Oregon and through Idaho, which don’t recognize medical marijuana. They’ll take you to jail.”Many medical marijuana patients view the ability to pass through airports with their cannabis plants as part of new regulations. TSA says there are no new regulations. However, medical marijuana patients claim airports, TSA, and local authorities never would have allowed them in the past to pass through airports with their plants. Now, the culmination of local authorities and other airport authorities have allowed it at multiple destinations.Medical marijuana carriers noted a common theme amongst the local law enforcement response. It is a response that deemed it okay to carry the cannabis plants through airports as long as the starting and final destinations were medical marijuana friendly.Update