TSA Baggage by Scott Becker

Author:Scott Becker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2017-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Drugs? Those Aren’t My Drugs

It is not TSA’s job to look for drugs in luggage that we screen. But inevitably we find contraband in people’s bags. It is then our policy to report those potential infractions to LEO. The whole process has evolved and is certainly not uniform around the country. This is about how drugs are handled at ORD.

Can You Take Marijuana, Hemp, Cannabis, Weed, Pot, or Dope on a Plane?

Here is the evolution of what we did when we found drugs in a bag. The first year or so of our existence, we made a call to the police if we found four fingers of pot, about an ounce, in a bag. A year or two later we were told to alert CPD when we discovered any quantity of cannabis. In recent years we began to see people with prescriptions for medical cannabis from various states. It seems to be up to the individual police officer to decide how to enforce the law. For example, a California or Colorado prescription for cannabis is not valid in Illinois. Some CPD Officers will allow the passenger to keep their medical cannabis; others will confiscate it, while still others will arrest the carrier. Since the Chicago City Council passed a law decriminalizing weed in August, 2012,** and O’Hare is part of Chicago, that may someday change. Other drug laws are rigidly enforced.

Drugs and paraphernalia are often left in the garbage on the non-sterile side of the checkpoint. Many people apparently decide at the last minute that it is just not worth the risk of getting caught as they enter the checkpoint.

The best time to get caught with drugs is during a holiday because the police officers are more reluctant to do the lengthy paperwork that is involved in a bust. Please understand, I am not telling you to bring drugs to ORD or how to get them through. But if you are foolish enough to bring drugs to the airport I am just pointing out some reality. Police are understaffed at the airport on holidays, and they will be off the floor for a long time if they bust someone. So if you admit that you made a mistake, you might get your pot confiscated, but you can sometimes avoid arrest. If you are shifty about it and say, “I don’t know how it got there. Someone must have put it into my suitcase,” or better yet, “Those bastards from TSA must have planted it,” you might still get arrested, even during a holiday.

Merry Christmas

As usual I was working Christmas Day. I worked almost every holiday for thirteen years. I may have taken two Thanksgivings and one Christmas off. On every holiday it is my custom to go to all of the people that I manage in whatever terminal that I am in, wish them a happy holiday, and thank them for their service, which took them away from their family and friends on important days. I was making my rounds when I got a call from one of my Supervisors.

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