FlyerTalk Forums - Drug dealing TSA Agent

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rickg523 (Post 28968673)

This is getting towards Omni, but if a TSO is using cannabis or pharmaceuticals for pain relief, is it anyone's business unless they're impaired on the job? And as a passenger does the cause of the impairment change anything? Impaired is impaired. Cannabis or prescribed drug. Take the day off. You could argue that drugs also lead to mood changes, short of true impairment, some even causing aggressive behavior. But you'd be arguing in favor of cannabis over pharma.

TSA screener impairment, regardless of cause, jeopardizes passenger safety.

A truck driver can't drive if taking certain medications, an air traffic controller can't work while using certain medications, and a pilot can't fly as a pilot while using certain medications. In each case the ability of these people are considered impaired and may jeopardize other peoples safety.

Would you want your surgeon to have been using MJ shortly before s/he operates on you?

Aside from being impaired on the job there is another security aspect that has not been mentioned: a federal employee using weed is a prime target for coercion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Section 107 (Post 28971701)

Aside from being impaired on the job there is another security aspect that has not been mentioned: a federal employee using weed is a prime target for coercion.

Possibly but the lure of $$$$ seems to be the larger motivator.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...ring/21713642/

TSA workers busted running $100 million cocaine smuggling ring

Quote:

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 28968595)

It does not seem appropriate to exempt one particular group of federal employees from federal laws, particularly when those very employees are tasked with reporting the presence of state-legal MMJ to the authorities if it is detected.

Largely true, but in Oregon (and Washington also, I believe), reporting rec or med MJ is effectively an exercise in mootness as it's legal to fly intrastate with amounts up to the personal possession limit. The following article is two years old but it outlines what happens/happened to pax found in possession of personal use quantities at various airports in rec legal states: Carry-on cannabis? Oregon airports adjust to new law.

Additionally, a new Gallup poll reveals that:

Quote:

Sixty-four percent of adults believe that “the use of marijuana should be made legal in the United States” — the highest percentage ever reported by Gallup since they began asking adults their views on legalization in 1969, which began at 12%.

It won't be much longer before the tide turns at the federal level so it's an important topic that will only gain traction and move to the front burner (ha!) here in this forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by essxjay (Post 28978221)

The issue is that MJ is a schedule 1 drug regardless of state laws. Flying intrastate has nothing to do with it. Federal government employees who choose to use MJ know that they are engaging in a act that could result in criminal prosecution under federal law. Further, TSA employees are required by policy to refer to law enforcement anyone incidentally found to be in possession of illegal drugs. It would certainly be a hypocrite that would illegally use MJ and then turn around and report someone else. Yet ,if they didn't then they would be in violation of their Code of Conduct and other personal responsibilities.

I think the current state of law on MJ needs to be resolved and the sooner the better.