TSA Overhauls Rule About Bringing Marijuana Onto Planes

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) updated its policy on cannabis over the Memorial Day weekend, which will be a welcomed change to some.

The specific revision was regarding the medical marijuana section of its “What Can I Bring?” webpage. It had previously said you could not bring marijuana and cannabis infused products such as Cannabidiol (CBD) onto a plane, and now says you can (with “special instructions”).

Here’s the update on the TSA’s website:

Previously:

Now:

Also: The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint.

Paragraph 2: “Products/medications that contain hemp-derived CBD or are approved by the FDA are legal as long as it is produced within the regulations defined by the law under the Agriculture Improvement Act 2018.”

A TSA spokesperson said the policy change was spurred by FDA’s approval of a cannabis-derived anti-seizure medication, Epidiolex.

“TSA was made aware of an FDA-approved drug that contains CBD oil for children who experience seizures from pediatric epilepsy,” the spokesperson said via email. “To avoid confusion as to whether families can travel with this drug, TSA immediately updated TSA.gov once we became aware of the issue.” (the FDA approved CBD prescriptions almost a year ago – did nobody tell anyone at the TSA in all this time that CBD oil was now OK?)

It hasn’t been clarified if or how the TSA plans to enforce the new policy. CBD oil would need to be tested for the presence of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol – the part of marijuana that makes you high) to determine if it’s “legal” or not. I don’t foresee TSA training its officers on how to test CBD on the spot. Then again, if they were to do any extra training, I personally think it should be in appropriate social skills. Or maybe learning how to know what other federal agencies are doing when it’s stuff that could potentially affect them. But maybe that’s just me. 😉

TSA’s rules for traveling with recreational marijuana, despite laws varying from state to state and country to country, remain unchanged.

*** This topic was originally covered by Marijuana Moment

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary