Originally Posted by Bart
Actually, it's not our job to look for illegal drugs. In other words, we cannot initiate a search because we believe that there may be illegal drugs inside of the bag. However, if we initiated a search for a pair of scissors, for example, and came across a bag of a suspicious-looking leafy substance, then we are obligated to notify the airport police. From that point, it's their baby.
Bart, what's to keep some overzealous screener from seeing pot, a crack pipe, etc in the x-ray and then say "oops I thought I saw scissors (knife, whatever)" in there so they can initiate the search? I mean, they can find the pot and say I guess there weren't scissors in there, but need the airport police?
It seems like an easy way to sidestep the "we can't initiate a search because we believe there may be illegal drugs inside the bag" argument.