Passenger flying into Boston was packing cannabis not animus.
The Twitterverse was left scratching its collective head after the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) tweeted a man flying into Boston’s Logan International Airport had jammed two box cutters into what would have been a very large shampoo bottle, but it was really just garden-variety cannabis.
TSA rules make clear what a passenger can have in both carry-on and checked baggage. For carry-on, a person can “bring a quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in your carry-on bag and through the checkpoint. These are limited to travel-sized containers that are 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) or less per item,” the information notes. Any containers bigger than 100 ml, regardless of the amount inside, need to go in checked baggage.
As it turned out, the failed attempt to smuggle contraband didn’t involve box cutters at all; it involved two bags of cannabis.
The TSA later issued what it called an update/clarification, not a correction. “The concealed bags were actually bags of marijuana found during checked baggage screening @BostonLogan,” the tweet reads, before somewhat defiantly adding, “TSA officers are trained to look for and detect threats including artfully concealed items.”
The Massachusetts State Police has taken possession of the items, the tweet adds.
Recreational cannabis is legal in Massachusetts for those 21 and older and each adult can grow as many as six plants in his or home, with a maximum of 12 plants for two or more adults. Still, there are restrictions around weed use and cultivation, including that people cannot use weed in any form on public or federal land, if there is more than an ounce (28 grams) of cannabis in the home, it must be locked up, and it is illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana.
But those are state requirements. Cannabis continues to be illegal under federal legislation and airports are federally regulated.
Trying to smuggle weed by air is nothing new. In Ireland last year, a wooden ornament declared as a wedding present hid a hefty, six-kilogram stash of weed with an estimated street value of about $180,000, was seized.
Of course, if flying is the preferred mode of travel, people can always get nabbed using the train. This recently included a California man who was busted after arriving in Illinois with 13 kilograms of illegal cannabis.