Marijuana amnesty boxes have been installed in two airports within the city of Chicago. The two airports are O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport. The amnesty bins are for passengers to dispose of their adult-use marijuana before boarding a plane.
The airports had the marijuana amnesty boxes fitted at the end of December so that they would be there on January 1 this year when recreational marijuana sales become legal in Chicago. The boxes are located near the TSA checkpoints.
However, the TSA and the state police focus is not on individuals carrying marijuana because it is legal to possess marijuana while you are at the airport but illegal to fly with any substance. This is because marijuana is still federally illegal, and the federal government regulates all U.S. airspace.
Speaking to Fox News, a spokesperson for TSA said that although the TSA does not search the passengers for marijuana products such as edibles, under federal law, they are required to report any discovery of drugs or any other illegal substances. The local police are then left to determine further action after locating people carrying weed.
Chicago Tribune reported that the Department of Aviation in Chicago and the police were tasked with overseeing the marijuana amnesty boxes. The cops would empty the amnesty bins regularly, file a report on the contents of the box, and then dispose of all the materials that were dropped in the amnesty boxes by the passengers.
The trend of installing marijuana amnesty boxes at airports is gaining popularity because Chicago is not the first airport to have them fitted. Marijuana amnesty boxes were also previously provided in McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and Colorado Springs Airport in Colorado for passengers to dispose of their marijuana before boarding flights.
In Las Vegas, the boxes are located at all the high traffic areas outside of the airport and within the airport car rental area. The Department of Aviation installed the amnesty bins after Clark County established a marijuana possession and advertising ban at the airport in September of 2019, reported The Las Vegas Sun.
Speaking to The Associated Press, McCarran spokeswoman, Christine Crews, said that the amnesty boxes were fitted outside the airport to help people comply with the ban issued by Clark County. She also said that the boxes would be monitored to prevent any tampering. She further said the content of the boxes would be disposed of multiple times a week by a hired contractor.
She added that any individual who does not comply with the rules and is found carrying weed at the airport would be dealt with by the Las Vegas Metro Police.
Placing the “marijuana amnesty bins” at airports is a good move that allows any passenger who still had weed on them to get rid of it safely before boarding a flight, and experts believe that weed companies like VIVO Cannabis Inc. (TSX.V: VIVO) (OTCQX: VVCIF) and Canopy Rivers Inc. (TSX: RIV) (OTC: CNPOF) may be hoping that the airport authorities will go a step further and use the public address system to remind travelers to use the amnesty bins.
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