BALTIMORE – U.S. Customs and Border Protection continues to see travelers violate federal marijuana possession laws after officers seized multiple marijuana-based products from the baggage of a traveler departing Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to Jamaica on Tuesday.
While examining checked baggage being loaded onto the Montego Bay-bound flight, officers discovered leafy marijuana, gummies, hard candy, a piece of a “protein bar,” and a package of seeds that all tested positive for THC, and some Psilocybin mushrooms, also known as magic mushrooms.
CBP officers identified the traveler at the departure gate and escorted him to CBP’s inspection station. There, officers discovered additional THC gummies in his carry-on bag. Officers seized all illicit products, which weighed a combined 303 grams, and released the traveler.
CBP is not identifying the man, a U.S. citizen, because he was not criminally charged.
“Travelers need to know that Customs and Border Protection Ports of Entry are federal inspection stations, and federal law still prohibits the possession of both medical and recreational use marijuana,” said Keith Fleming, Acting Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office. “Travelers may evade arrest for marijuana possession, but they do face hefty civil penalties and may potentially miss their flight, so CBP encourages travelers to closely examine their baggage before arriving at the airport.”
Earlier in June, CBP officers revoked a woman’s Global Entry trusted traveler membership after officers discovered marijuana in the baggage of a woman who arrived to BWI on a flight from the Dominican Republic.
Though some states have decriminalized marijuana possession or use, the sale, possession, production, distribution or the facilitation of the aforementioned of both medical and recreational marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law. As federal law prohibits the importation and exportation of marijuana, crossing the international border or arriving at a U.S. port of entry with marijuana may result in seizure, fines, and/or arrest, and may impact a foreign national’s admissibility.
CBP seized an average of 3,677 pounds of dangerous drugs every day across the United States last year. Learn more about what CBP accomplished during “A Typical Day” in 2020.
CBP’s border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. CBP officers screen international travelers and cargo and search for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders. Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.
Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on Twitter at @DFOBaltimore and on Instagram at @dfobaltimore for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between official ports of entry. CBP is charged with securing the borders of the United States while enforcing hundreds of laws and facilitating lawful trade and travel.