Washington DC May 28 2019

Many states have legalized personal or medical marijuana while others have legalized hemp.

This has made for an interesting, albeit confusing for the TSA.

Now, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has updated its policy on cannabis

In hopes to clarify what is legal to carry on flights and what is not.

Previously, TSA made no distinction between marijuana and hemp-derived preparations and warned on its website that cannabis products cannot be taken as carry-on items or in checked bags. But since the 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized hemp and its derivatives, that’s no longer the case.

Now the agency’s webpage specifies that possession of “certain” cannabis products are illegal under federal law, and TSA agents are required to report suspected violations such as possession of “certain” products to law enforcement.

Here’s the new policy as it appears on TSA’s website:

“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 new section states.

It’s not clear how the agency plans to enforce the new policy, unless it intends to train agents to test CBD preparations for the presence of THC and maintain a database of products that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

An FDA-approved drug that contains CBD oil for children who experience seizures from pediatric epilepsy would be allowed.

To avoid confusion as to whether families can travel with this drug, TSAhas updated TSA.gov.

The rest of the TSA page on cannabis mostly retains language from the earlier version. The agency’s efforts are “focused on security and are designed to detect potential threats to aviation and passengers,” it says, so it doesn’t use resources to seek out illicit drugs.

TSA says that of any of their personnel spots any illegal substance during security screening, TSA will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer.”

“Whether or not marijuana is considered legal under local laws is not relevant to TSA screening because TSA is governed by federal law,” TSA wrote. “Federal law provides no basis to treat medical marijuana any differently than non-medical marijuana.”

But with the legalization of industrial hemp and its derivatives, multiple federal agencies are now revisiting their policies to clarify what is and isn’t allowed.

Still, some confusion still lingers and will until either marijuana is legalized nationally or federal law enforcement decides to enforce current federal laws which still deems marijuana illegal in all states.

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