Ways To Carry Weed While Traveling

How much weed should I fly with?

OK, you’ve got your big-boy pants all pulled up and have decided it’s game on. This first bit of advice is simple: Don’t fly with much. It’s a federal crime. For old-school nugs (aka flower), one eighth is the max you’re gonna want to give this experiment; follow that same logic with edibles, et al. Think logically, here. If you have a backpack full of weed, TSA is gonna spot it and, at the very least, make you throw it out. And that would suck! A backpack full of CBD is expensive!

Where should I hide my weed when I fly?

Not in your checked luggage. One reason is that the TSA conducts random searches on checked luggage alllll the time. Do you really want to spend your whole flight freaking out that those guys in sunglasses from The Matrix are gonna be waiting for you when you get off the plane? Your carry-on bags, on the other hand, are likely to go unsearched, so long as you’re not a dipshit.

As to how to hide it, don’t overthink things. The best, most successful lies are usually those that deviate as little as possible from the truth -- elaborate yarns not only force you to keep track of unintuitive things you made up, they’re almost always less believable. In this same vein, when you’re sneaking weed through TSA you want to skew closer to “in plain sight” than “in a jar of peanut butter.” The reality is that you’ll have an easier time getting your eighth through security keeping it in your pocket than stuffing it into Merkts cheese spread.

How to sneak weed through airport security

To TSA scanners, weed is a sort of nondescript blur. If you have a few extra joints, put them in a cigarette pack and then put that cigarette pack wherever you would normally put it. For buds, one Thrillist writer has found this trick to be the way to go: Empty any opaque bottle of over-the-counter medication like Ibuprofen. Put the weed in it. Put some cotton balls on top of weed. Put pills on top of cotton balls until it’s filled to the brim. If you’ve got TSA Precheck, you can put a baggie in your shoe. Up your butt is a bit overboard.

Even if you do get caught, there’s a good chance nothing will happen to you. Regional TSA spokesperson Carrie Harmon points Thrillist to the following statement: “TSA’s focus is on terrorism and security threats to the aircraft and its passengers. TSA’s screening procedures, which are governed by federal law, are focused on security and are designed to detect potential threats to aviation and passengers. As has always been the case, if during the security screening procedures an officer discovers an item that may violate the law, TSA refers the matter to law enforcement. Law enforcement officials determine whether to initiate a criminal investigation.”

That means that if you’re trying to get some pot out of Portland and a TSA officer finds it, you’d be referred to a Portland cop who would make you throw it out, possibly while making a Phish joke. Then you’d be free to go. If you’re leaving a state where marijuana possession is still a criminal offense, we aren’t really sure why you’re trying to fly it out of there in the first place, but chances are the TSA personnel in Waco are far less accustomed to spotting weed than the ones in Denver.
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