FliesWay2Much

Actually, this caught my eye:

I suppose the TSA just "happens" to find the pot during their "administrative search."

I'm curious if frequent DEN FTers have seen this at the checkpoints. Is it the TSA clerks who are searching for pot? Or, are the local cops using the TSA checkpoint as a suspicionless general law enforcement checkpoint (which, or course, was ruled unconstitutional -- think it was the Indianapolis case).

Finally, the spokesholess conveniently overlooked the fact that not all flights departing DIA actually leave the state of Colorado.

GUWonder

While I am of the "stay away from drugs" school of thought, I definitely don't like the idea do the TSA hunting for drugs and choosing to get distracted from the hunt for contraband WEIs at airport screening checkpoints.

If the TSA is in place to protect my flights from security risks, then the TSA should focus more effectively upon interdicting contraband WEIs and stop distracting itself with a hunt for drugs, money, "scary" foreign language, and all sorts of things that don't endanger my flights but do divert resources away from the hunt for contraband WEIs.

As long as the TSA can't even get the basics of WEI interdiction completely right, they should not even entertain the idea of wasting further time and money on the other junk they do currently. Other junk including the hunt for drugs.

shenxing

What about the presumption of innocence? How do they know you aren't taking a short-haul flight within the state?

jkhuggins

Well ... at a checkpoint, you present the TSO with a boarding pass, which presumably is evidence of where you're going. (Yes, it could be forged, it could be fully-refundable, yadda yadda yadda ...)

Note: my reply shouldn't be seen as endorsement of an expansion of TSA's duties to include searching for drugs. I'm simply pointing out that passengers at a checkpoint do, in fact, make an implicit declaration regarding their intention of leaving the state.

FliesWay2Much

One of my issues with this is: How can anyone legally confiscate the pot and arrest someone for taking pot across state lines when they have not yet done so? Next time I go through there, maybe I'll bring a baggie of oregano.

shenxing

But the person searching your bag in most cases never sees your boarding pass. In any case, how do they know you didn't intend to consume the marijuana, throw it away, etc. before you boarded the plane? The actual act of transporting the marijuana out of state should only be evident once you've actually done it (i.e. landed at another airport).

FlyingUnderTheRadar

The TSA is acting in Federal capacity. Under Federal Law marijuana is still illegal. As such, they are required to report it.

Now the interesting part is that the TSA is supposed to call the cops who are at the state level where it is legal. However, it sounds like the TSA just make travelers dispose of it.

The funny part of the article is this statement from the rental car agency:

tkey75

By some authority, DIA bans bringing pot into the facility. They do not arrest people, since it's not illegal. You get an administrative fine ($100, iirc, and not from the TSA, who really don't care) and lose your weed.

Also, it doesn't come in a baggie. It comes in well labeled prescription style containers. Those 16 who got busted must have been real dopes attempting to transport larger quantities. BTW, that number seems really low if they're truly on an active mission to find people taking pot through DIA.

catocony

I've brought edibles through DIA twice, and none were the wiser.

16 people have been nabbed with pot at DIA in just over six months. How does that compare to the same six month period over the last few years at DIA? How about the same six months this year at other airports of similar size?

ronin308

The authority is the very law that made pot legal. Per the wording of the law "any entity who occupies, owns or controls a property" can prohibit "the possession, consumption, use, display, transfer, distribution, sale, transportation, or growing of marijuana on or in that property."

tkey75

Well, there ya go. I wasn't doubting the authority, just didn't know specifically where it came from.

CMK10

That's the wrong argument. If you meet with a hitman to discuss having your wife killed, you have committed a crime. Or if you're stopped on your way to burn down a building with arson materials in your car, you have committed a crime etc.

djk7

I'm not surprised people leave it in their rental cars. I have left a beer or two in rental cars because it wasn't worth checking my bag just to get a couple of beers home.

The pot could cause trouble if the cleaners don't find it, and a subsequent renter takes the car out of CO.

bdraco

The article says they were allowed to discard it without being arrested: