(NEXSTAR) — It’s already been a busy summer of travel — the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reports that as of early June, seven of the agency’s 10 busiest travel days have happened in 2024 — so there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself filing through airport security sometime soon.
There are numerous things you’ll be allowed to bring with you through a TSA checkpoint. Sure, you may have to quickly chug the water you forgot to empty from your bottle and put your shampoo in one of those little travel containers, but you shouldn’t have any other problems.
When it comes to traveling with marijuana, regardless of what form it’s in, it’s a bit more complicated.
Over the last couple of years, more and more states have legalized recreational and medical use of marijuana. In 2023, Ohio became the 24th state to do so. Kentucky also legalized medical marijuana last year, but patients will have to wait until next year for the program to officially launch.
Federal authorities also appear poised to reschedule marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the U.S. While that doesn’t mean it will be immediately legal nationwide, it could be a step in that direction.
Until then, however, bringing marijuana in your carry-on could delay you more than a sudden thunderstorm directly over the airport.
It depends. TSA does have some guidelines on what cannabis products you can have in your checked bag or carry-on: those with no more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis, and those approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Currently, the FDA has only approved four such products: Epidiolex, a cannabidiol (or CBD); and three synthetic cannabis-related drug products: Marinol and Syndros, both considered dronabinol, and Cesamet, a nabilone, which can be used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by cancer medicines.
So if your edibles or CBD products meet those requirements, you’re allowed to fly with them.
These rules apply regardless of what airport — and what state — you’re flying to or from.
You may, or may not, be stopped by a TSA agent. Ultimately, those agents are “focused on detecting security threats and protecting the nation’s transportation system,” a TSA spokesperson tells Nexstar.
“If during the security screening process, an item is identified as a potential security threat, additional screening will occur,” the spokesperson adds. “If during that follow-up screening a TSA officer discovers anything that violates local, state or federal law, TSA refers the matter to the appropriate law enforcement agency. TSA remains focused on carrying out our transportation security priorities.”
A TSA spokesperson previously told Nexstar that officers don’t search for marijuana or any other illegal drugs but are required to report it if they find it during the screening process. Local law enforcement will then decide what steps, if any, are taken.
“The TSA has gone out of its way to say that its focus is not on marijuana,” Larry Mishkin, an Illinois lawyer at the Hoban Law Group, which offers legal services for individuals in the marijuana industry, previously told The Washington Post.
You’ll be able to bring through marijuana products that adhere to the TSA rules outlined above, but you may still be forced to ditch your items before moving through the security checkpoint.
Some airports, like O’Hare in Chicago, have amnesty boxes that allow travelers to abandon their weed before security. Los Angeles International warns passengers that while its airport police division has “no jurisdiction to arrest individuals if they are complying” with California’s marijuana law, TSA “screening stations are under federal jurisdiction.”
Additionally, because of TSA’s rules regarding marijuana, your airline likely won’t permit such products on their planes. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, for example, explicitly say passengers are not allowed to transport marijuana on their flights, with the latter noting that “anyone traveling with or transporting marijuana on American flights does at their own risk.”
