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Adult-use cannabis is legal in California and adult-use cannabis is legal in New York. But because marijuana is still banned under federal law\u2014and since federal law governs airspace in the United States\u2014it\u2019s still not legal to fly from Los Angeles to New York City (or anywhere else) with cannabis, in any amount.<\/p>\n
That hasn\u2019t stopped untold millions of people from flying with cannabis anyway. One reason why is there just isn\u2019t much risk. Most Transportation Security Administration agents encountered at airport security checkpoints are not law enforcement<\/a>. And the law enforcement officers TSA agents summon are almost always local police or sheriff\u2019s deputies, who enforce state law, which in California and New York (and many places in between) says small amounts of cannabis are legal.<\/p>\n For these reasons, there are precious few examples of small amounts of cannabis causing airline passengers (or anyone else) much trouble\u2014as much as it might annoy police who still remember the days of plentiful, easy busts before legalization. Which is why authorities at Los Angeles International Airport are putting a new, aggressive spin on an old, crude, but effective tactic: threatening passengers carrying cannabis<\/a>, this time with arrest and federal charges, in order to scare them into self-policing. But according to defense attorneys, passengers should not be fooled\u2014this ominous warning is an empty threat.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, new signs appeared near security checkpoints at LAX. \u201cATTENTION,\u201d the signs blare in large, uppercase letters, a large, seven-fingered marijuana fan leaf behind the red diagonal slash in a prohibition sign. \u201cTRAVELING WITH NARCOTICS=ARREST.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Placed there by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the authority in charge of both LAX and Van Nuys Airport, the signs inform any uncertain passengers that the definition of \u201cnarcotics\u201d includes \u201cconcentrated cannabis\u201d as well as \u201ccannabis edibles\u201d and \u201cvapes\u201d (two more discreet options often preferred by travelers for their compact portability and lack of tell-tale smell).<\/p>\n \u201cAny amount of narcotics in your possession may delay your travel,\u201d the sign reads. \u201cArrests may result in federal drug charges.\u201d \u201c\u2018Lack of knowledge,\u2019\u201d the sign adds in a paternalistic flourish, \u201cis not a valid excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n But since LAX\u2019s marijuana policy<\/a> hasn\u2019t changed since 2018 \u2014 when authorities had to start allowing people with up to an ounce of flower and eight grams of concentrates through checkpoints and onto their flights \u2014 it appears a \u201clack of knowledge\u201d is exactly what the signs appear to be banking on.<\/p>\n In a brief email exchange, LAX police Chief Cecil Rhambo<\/a> told Cannabis Now that LAWA \u201cinstalled the signs early this year when we noted a rise in contraband at the TSA screening stations.\u201d Asked to provide data such as arrest statistics, or any example of an instance in which cannabis possession led to an arrest and federal charges at LAX, Rhambo did not respond.<\/p>\n But according to defense attorneys who specialize in cannabis criminal cases, there hasn\u2019t been any recent change in policy or surge in arrests. Instead, the signs are yet another example of \u201cscare signs,\u201d which can and should be safely ignored.<\/p>\n Similar to the \u201camnesty boxes\u201d seen at airports in Chicago and Denver, which invite anxious passengers to dump their cannabis in a sealed bin, the sign is a very blunt, very empty exercise in psychology, an attempt to compel the public to behave a certain way \u2014 even if, in this instance, it\u2019s utterly baseless.<\/p>\n As Rhambo admitted, there is an enormous amount of cannabis flowing through Los Angeles\u2019 airports and many other airports around the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just don\u2019t want to deal with it.\u201d said Omar Figueroa, a northern California-based attorney and expert in state cannabis law.<\/p>\n Though cannabis is legal, most law-enforcement officers are still \u201cdrug war dinosaurs\u201d who don\u2019t particularly like cannabis, he added. \u201cThese \u2018scare signs\u2019 make their jobs easier.\u201d<\/p>\n Though technically someone stopped by federal law enforcement with cannabis \u2014 as anyone busted with pot on a beach or a forest under federal jurisdiction, like Yosemite National Park, has found out the wrong way \u2014 the idea that personal amounts would lead to federal charges is so remote as to be laughable.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the feds are going to get involved in little, itty bitty marijuana cases,\u201d said William Kroger, a Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney who specializes in defending cannabis clients, including many who were caught trying to smuggle significant quantities of cannabis through airports such as LAX.<\/p>\n People manage to sneak through quantities in the pounds, packs, \u201call day, every day,\u201d Kroger added. The idea that police would suddenly take a keen interest in individuals with personal amounts (itself a vague term that could mean ounces or pounds, depending on who is making the argument) is just not feasible, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [the feds] are not even getting involved in dispensaries,\u201d Kroger added.<\/p>\n And barring some unforeseen national shift that would prove vastly unpopular with a majority of the public who support legalization, this will not change. Unless they are also doing something else that is very, very bad, someone with a pocketful of vape cartridges, a few nugs, or some edibles tucked away in their carry-on is not going to be arrested and charged with a federal crime.<\/p>\n But if authorities can convince the public otherwise with something as simple, easy, and cheap as a few ominous signs propped up at airport security, that\u2019s a job very easily done, even if it comes at the cost of their credibility.<\/p>\n The post Federal Charges for Flying with Cannabis? LAX\u2019s \u2018Scare Signs\u2019 a New Low<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Adult-use cannabis is legal in California and adult-use cannabis is legal in New York. But because marijuana is still banned under federal law\u2014and since federal law governs airspace in the United States\u2014it\u2019s still not legal to fly from Los Angeles to New York City (or anywhere else) with cannabis, inContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":50740,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1464,50,1534,13109,5992,90,488],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50741,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50739\/revisions\/50741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/LAX-sign-cannabis-TSA-security.jpg\")
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\nRead More: Federal Charges for Flying with Cannabis? LAX\u2019s \u2018Scare Signs\u2019 a New Low<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"