I was talking to a relative who is concerned that someone she knows always travels with their own personal supply of pot in their carry on and what would happen if the TSA were to find this?

I believe they will call LEO

A law enforcement officer would be called to the scene.

And the TSA would have one more example of how they are making aviation safe for the good guys.

They'd turn it over to an LEO to deal with.

Despite the questionable constitutionality of them turning an administrative search into a criminal search, I wouldn't advise it unless they plan on challenging the law with the help of a good lawyer.

Don't know: they never found mine!!!!!

....They would probably be arrested....what do you think they would do if they found bloody clothing or any other evidence of a crime...?

How do you think TSA agents get their pot?

Some people have been known to pack various (legal) green, leafy substances such as oregano or sweet basil, just for practice -- usually no bag check.

fingerprints, name, photo and serial number singing the jailhouse blues - and SSSS everytime the jerk flies whenever they let the pothead out of the clink, thereafter

I've flown with a frying pan in my carry-on and the TSA didn't seem to have a problem with it.

Seriously though, people have gotten arrested for carrying stuff that looks like drugs (flour or similar) at checkpoints. Don't do it.

Now, I'm certainly not advocating trying to fly with a substance in your carry on that is illegal in that location, but is it safe to say that you have a problem with people who smoke pot? Is it also safe to say that you live in a country where it's outlawed altogether?

Also, is it safe to say that you don't drink, use nicotine products, or ingest anything else that might alter your state of mind?

If your protest is not due to that aspect of the substance but rather the illegality of it, do you always drive the speed limit, never come to a rolling stop at a stop sign, always wear your seatbelt, etc?

There are a LOT of jerks out there. They just happen to be practicing jerkdom in different ways.

For the rest of us, there's a fun life. ^

Depends.

In most cases it would be refered to an LEO

However, I have heard two tales in which pot was found in a carry-on and ignored by the screener. In these cases, the amounts were really small.

The best way to transport pot by air is not to get caught, and the best way not to get caught is to leave it at home.

Why can't he just put the pot in his pocket? It wouldn't be picked up by the metal detector.

Not advisable. The TSA is running a dragnet, looking for anything that they might use in a PR sense. Arresting people in the War on Drugs is one of the things that they think add PR value.

Exactly. If the public hears the TSA is busting people with a little smoke, they'll be satisfied that they are doing something. As others have said, don't do it because the penalties are not worth it.

I would think it would be quite the opposite -- when advocating the PATRIOT act, which created the DHS and the TSA and implemented a number of measures that reduced individual liberties and privacy, the Administration made repeated promises to Congress suggesting that they were offended at the very idea that the new powers, if granted would be ever be used for anything that wasn't strictly related to fighting terrorism. That explicitly excluded even using these powers for purposes of fighiting violent, but non-terrorist, crimes, so in response to the poster who asked what the TSA would do if they found bloody clothing, the answer the Justice department repeatedly gave Congress both informally and in sworn testimony is "absolutely nothing". You therefore certainly cannot begin to defend using it to enforce misdemeanor statutes, such as those for drug possession. So if word got out that they WERE in fact doing this, I would expect the public reaction to be one of outrage over breaking trust.