If for any reason you are searching someone's belongings, whether that be by hand or by X-ray, and you see something that looks to you like illegal drugs, you are going to "stop a bag" just as if you found something that looked like a weapon or an explosive, right?

I didn't ask you to do so. You brought up the topic of ending marijuana prohibition. I didn't.

Those people probably wish that you would stay out of their business.

There must be some miscommunication, here. When you start your search of someone's belongings, whether that search be by hand or by X-ray, you're supposed to be searching for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries. In practice, you're also searching for controlled substances, evidence of immigrations violations, evidence of credit card fraud, and probably several other things. Do you mean to tell me that you will keep searching until you find one of those things? I doubt it.

Isn't that precisely what you'll do if you find something that looks like a bomb or other weapon? In either case, you're looking through someone's belongings in an attempt to find things that are not supposed to be there. In either case, if you see something that looks like one of certain items that are not supposed to be there, you're going to stop and call a supervisor. You're only going to move on to the next bag if you can do so without releasing the one with the suspicious item. Please tell me the difference in your reaction to finding something that you suspect is an illegal drug and something that you suspect is a weapon.

I stand corrected. So if you find weapons, explosives, incendiaries, or drugs, you call a supervisor.

Now, please answer the question I asked. You search people's belongings, and if you see something that looks like a weapon, explosive, incendiary, or illegal drug, you take action, right? In each case, you call a supervisor. You're treating drugs the same as weapons when you search a bag, right?

According to what you've told us, weapons, explosives, incendiaries, and drugs are all treated the same by you, except that you say you're not searching for one of them, just the others. If you find any during your search, the result is the same. Am I missing anything?

Yes, I intended for that to make sense. What's the difference between 1) you searching for bombs but not drugs, and 2) you searching for bombs and drugs, if you're going to take the same action when you find bombs or drugs?

You keep telling us that you're not searching for drugs, and that you are searching for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries, but you're clearly searching for drugs as well. You tell us, "I"m not searching for drugs, but if I see them while searching your bag, I'll take action." I'm saying that we could describe what you do by saying, "TSA are not searching for bombs, but if they see one while searching a bag, they'll take action." You follow?

Ron, do you understand that when you look inside a bag with an X-ray machine, you are searching the bag? You may be trained to play fetch, but you TSA bag examiners as a group search every carry-on bag. I don't care what you say you're looking for, but the truth is that you're going to look at everything, and if you find something that looks like weapons, explosives, incendiaries, or drugs, your next step is exactly the same: call a supervisor. This tells me that if what you're doing should be considered a search for weapons, it should also be considered a search for drugs.

I'd like to know how you summarize the following instructions: "Examine content of bag, either by hand and naked eye, or with the assistance of an X-ray machine. If anything in the bag appears to be a weapon, explosive, incendiary, illegal drug, large quantity of cash, or toothpaste, alert a supervisor." You can call it a search for gold or anything else, but it's still a search for dangerous items, drugs, cash, and toothpaste.