You can now fly With Marijuana

Yes, times are certainly a changin’. It reminds me of the classic Bob Dylan song of, pretty much, the same name.

Why, you ask? Well, you can now fly the friendly skies with weed. At least, within one state. Surprisingly, it’s not Colorado. The state where you can now do that? Oregon. Yes, you can now, apparently, fly from Portland to another airport within Oregon with ganja.

I find this strange. Especially when you consider it’s still illegal to smoke, or possess dope, under federal law. And the TSA is a federal agency. Nonetheless, if you have a intra-state flight within Oregon, you can do that! Here’s why:

“Airport officials said if a TSA agent finds pot on you, they will notify Port Police. Port Police will check to see if you're over the legal limit, check your age and look at your boarding pass to make sure you aren't flying out of the state.

If everything checks out, they'll let you go on so you can make your flight.”

That’s fair. But what if, say, you “forget” you’re flying out of state, and you show up at the security checkpoint with a legal amount of marijuana (in Oregon) in your bag? Well, you’re still, kinda, in luck!

“PDX points out TSA agents aren't focused on actively snooping out marijuana, but if you're flying out of Oregon and are caught with the legal amount of pot, you will be asked to leave the checkpoint and find a way to get rid of your pot before getting back in line.”

Bottom line

There are essentially two laws at play here: federal and state. And in this case, it looks like state law trumps federal law, simply because the TSA agents in Portland are using a loophole in the law to not report anything to the feds.

Good news. Or not. I don't know? 

I think this kind of thing (where a state government is pitted against the federal government) will start to happen more and more. Maybe ganja will eventually be legalized on a federal level. Only time will tell.

Until then, enjoy flying the friendly skies. And you may want to pack more snacks! Ya know, just in case you get the munchies.


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