So as of the end of April, more than 20 U.S. states have legalized marijuana for
recreational use and more than 40 have already done that for medical
use. But can people actually bring it on a plane?
That is very complicated.
I'm Erin Black and this is Leslie Josephs.
We cover aviation here at CNBC.
This week on now boarding, we are talking about if you can bring weed onto an
airplane in the US and internationally, but let's start in the US
first. I've lived in California for ten years.
Weed has been legal there for quite some time.
I've always wondered, can I bring it on a plane?
And now with like being between New Jersey and California, both legalized states,
can I bring it on a plane now?
What's happening?
It's a really good question.
It's super complicated.
The short, short answer is no, you can't.
It's not permitted.
Marijuana is still illegal federally.
It's schedule one.
It's up there with heroin and cocaine.
And federal law also governs air travel.
So once you pass that security checkpoint, you know, that's the feds are pretty much in
control. It is really complicated, though.
So my colleague Stephan Sykes and I tried to find some answers.
We went to the TSA, we went to airlines.
We talked to local police.
We talked to airport authorities.
And everyone seemed to point fingers at each other, like whose job it was.
So what if I were to try to get through security with marijuana?
It's possible they don't find it.
The TSA told us they're not even looking for marijuana.
They're not even looking for drugs, period.
This isn't someone in customs that's going through a cargo shipment or someone's luggage
to see if they're bringing in something into the United States.
They're looking for threats to safety, immediate threats to safety.
They're looking for weapons, sharp things, guns.
The TSA was created after nine divided by 11, and that's what they're looking for.
They're not there to see if you brought marijuana.
Is not a threat to your flight Yeah or maybe it is according to the TSA, they might run out of
snacks. But let's say the TSA were to find
the cartridge of edibles that I have with me.
What would happen?
It really depends where you are.
Which state? The TSA, let's say they find something in your bag when they put it through,
what they can do is send that case over to local law enforcement.
They'll call in local police, airport police, local police.
The airport is owned and operated generally by the local municipality.
Those law enforcement officials are subject and follow local laws.
So we asked some people in California, in LA particularly like, is
this something that you would arrest someone for?
And they said, well, we follow local law, and possession of small amounts is not a crime, it's
legal. So it kind of leads to this circular thing, like, can you just go through
after that? And it's just it's not really clear if you're in a state where it's
illegal, like Florida, you know, worse things can happen.
Are the police in Florida necessarily looking and getting called in for tiny amounts of
marijuana or small personal use amounts of marijuana?
Generally, no.
But you do run the risk of violating local law.
And you also can't transport marijuana across state lines.
So there's always some sort of risk.
The way that it was described to us, it's like a very case by case basis.
They want to see how much you have.
Does it look like you're going to sell it or is this just, you know, a little bit that you're
taking to relax on the plane or when you get home or, you know, like a.
Couple of mints probably getting through TSA?
Yeah, We did a story about this years ago and it was a joke that they called the mommy mints in
California.
Oh, really?
That's funny. So when I talk to people about possibly
flying with edibles or something, their question is always, okay, so it gets
through the security scanner.
But what if they have dogs?
Is the TSA training like bomb sniffing dogs to sniff out people's
marijuana?
No. You have a better chance of that dog sniffing out the
snacks that you're going to have after the marijuana than the actual marijuana.
I mean, there are bomb sniffing dogs.
They're there to detect gunpowder and other explosives and things like that.
No one's taking a beagle through like, you know, a weed farm or
like giving them little baggies to smell.
And I don't even know how they would smell a tin of edibles or something that
sealed. That's not what they're looking for.
You know, this is we're talking about domestic flights.
We're talking, you know, state interstate flights.
That's not what they're there for.
I'm curious, like when you did reach out to the TSA, was their reaction kind of, you
know, was it a serious is it a serious thing that they're worried about or is it kind of like
we have much bigger things to be concerned about?
I think they realize they have much bigger things to be concerned about.
I mean, there's a lot of stuff at the TSA that they're trying to improve.
They have done tests with how many guns they don't detect, how many guns they do
detect, and they're looking for more threats to safety.
It's the Transportation Safety Administration, not, you know, the DEA
or, you know, some authority that's that's trying to prevent that.
And it is fairly common.
You know, you think of like how much travel there is between like California and Colorado, for
example, like two states or.
California and Washington state and now New York.
It's just there's so much and they're not that's not what they're there for.
They're terribly understaffed.
The lines are long.
And that's not their their purpose for being.
And you think about check luggage, too, because that also gets scanned.
And that's another place where they're not looking for that.
They're looking for there's going to be a bigger threat from something like a battery that could
catch fire in the cargo hold.
That's also not exactly what they're they're looking for, but they're looking for something
that could be a threat, safety threat.
So when you wrote this story, like what was kind of the the motivation behind it, is it
just because, like so many states are now legalizing it?
So we looked into this a few years ago, right before California had legalized statewide for for
recreational and got similar responses from from the TSA.
You know that's not the thing that they're looking for.
So now 4 or 5 years on, there are so many other states that have legalized marijuana and there are
states that have large amounts of air travel.
New York, New Jersey, out west, there are more states.
Nevada has legalized it.
So it's just that there's a lot more possibility that people can readily
buy marijuana, especially marijuana products that are very popular in dispensaries.
And everyone kind of knows what weed looks like, but everything else looks like some mince.
Like it's it's candy.
Is it a tin of Altoids?
Is it bar chocolate?
Yeah. You know what you can't get in with?
Probably. And they would be like, no, it would be like some THC infused soda because they'd be like
no liquids. And that's what like probably would get stopped.
But what are the odds?
All right. So, no, it's not legal to fly with, but you
most likely won't get stopped.
And what will it take to officially say you can fly
with this on a plane?
Um, that is a really good question and I don't exactly know the answer
to it, but this.
I would assume like if it ever became federal law, like you'd be able to take it on a.
Plane. Right. And the Biden administration has been pretty vocal about
not wanting to prosecute people for low level drug crimes.
A lot of states have have done this, you know, in conjunction with legalizing and before when they
were decriminalizing.
You know, police are not told for like, why make an arrest?
There are so many other things that are going on for it to be legal to fly.
So if it's legal federally, I mean, you could fly with alcohol, but like you can't bring the liquid
through because that's, you know, another you can bring the.
Little things through.
Yes.
Your you can bring a quart sized bag of those little what are they.
Cocktail size.
Alcohol. Are they called Nips.
I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
So like those little tiny ones, when we did that security piece on airports a couple of years ago,
like a quart sized bag of those, you can bring through security.
Right. But they all have to be, you know, 1.5oz.
Right. But for legalized substances, I mean, people bring all kinds of things through, I
imagine. And, you know, when the line is long, they're looking for metal and they're looking for
weapons. They're not looking for marijuana generally, but it's still
I wouldn't recommend it.
I think the way that we phrased it in our first story about California was like, nothing
will probably happen.
So, you know, you never know.
And if something else that you have like sets off alarm bells, the quantity, I think, is a big red
flag for for police.
So it depends on what the context of it is.
And I think they take it on like a case by case basis.
Like what else do you have? Do you have like a bunch of cash in your bag?
Then you're suspicious.
And they will probably refer you to local law enforcement for sure.
Okay. So the US know what?
If I want to fly internationally, highly recommended.
Don't do it. There's too much risk.
Forget getting a lawyer with a language barrier if that's the case, you know,
yes, many countries around the world have decriminalized and legalized marijuana,
but you're still not allowed to bring it into another country.
The same goes if you're going you know, you don't want to go from Amsterdam to the US because
the security check, when you come in, like that's when there are drug sniffing dogs around.
Sometimes even though the odds might be rather low, it's it's
still not recommended.
And also, like if you're going to another country like you don't want to get penalized, like you
don't want to get stopped at the airport for that.
Now, I have seen these amnesty boxes in some airports, so
obviously they're putting them there for a reason.
Yeah, I mean, it's a place to get rid of your weed before you fly.
Maybe TSA finds it, but it's legal and they're not going to do anything with local law
enforcement. And you could throw it in there.
Or maybe you just feel uncomfortable and you go, oh, no, like my edibles are in there.
But you'll see at Chicago's two main airports, have them there in Denver,
multiple airports in California have them.
After security.
There, after security.
Which is weird.
It is weird because it's like it's not just like you're nervous and you're before security and you
need to ditch it somewhere.
But maybe people.
Well, I don't know.
Try to search through it if it's your local.
Police in Chicago told us that it's destroyed.
And then the police in Denver told us that if you have
more than two ounces, I think that's the amount it would be confiscated and not returned to the
person. So just FYI, you're going to lose.
I don't know why you're flying with more than two ounces of marijuana in general, but so.
Let's say someone gets to the airport, they realize they shouldn't bring this to
security. They eat a bunch of edibles and are now getting on their flight.
Like what?
You know, is this going to be is this going to be treated the same as, you know, you know, someone
who's really drunk getting on a plane where they won't let you on the plane?
That's pretty much it.
It's just I mean, if you're keeping to yourself and your headphones are on, like they probably
won't bother you. Someone who's intoxicated from alcohol, you know, that
could raise red flags for various reasons.
If someone's acting out, if they're yelling, if they're loud, violent, of course you're not
getting on on the plane.
But the airlines conditions of carriage is like really long document about like all the
things that they owe you and don't owe you and what your rights are as a passenger and what
theirs are. It does say like if you're visibly intoxicated, the gate agent has the
right to not board you and deny you boarding.
So always keep that in mind.
Also, like taking a bunch of edibles in the airport.
Sounds horrible.
I don't know if it would make turbulence better or worse being high on a plane.
That's a good question.
Okay. So authorities aren't really looking for it, but you still shouldn't do it.
That's right. Okay.
Well, that wraps up this week of now boarding.
Thanks for joining us. We will see you next time.
Now boarding is produced by Aaron Black and Leslie Josephs.
Graphics by Jason Reginato Camera by Liam Mayes, with support from senior
production manager Kathy Mavrakis, supervising producer Janice Pettit and executive
producer Camelia Angelova.