The Transportation Security Officers TSA are liable to check for illicit or illegal weapons and explosives from passengers and are not actively responsible for checking drugs.
But don’t misunderstand that they won’t find drugs because their main objective is confiscating items that can risk other travelers’ safety. Still, if they find drugs during their search, they will hand over that person to the responsible person.
How Do TSA Agents Discover Drugs?
Passengers traveling by Airplane must pass some security checks by the Airport authorities.
Once each security check requires you to place your bag in a security screening bin, that bin moves on the conveyer belt, passing through the scanner to scan all the contents inside the luggage bag.
Based on advanced technology, the scanner scans and shows detailed images of the stuff inside your bags that the security staff inspects carefully to detect suspicious items inside the bag.
The contents inside the bag will be represented by three colors: orange, green, and blue.
The orange color represents organic materials, the green color represents non-organic materials, and the blue represents metallic objects or plastic objects.
Among all the colors, the one that the security personnel is looking for is the orange color that shows bio-organic materials like weed or marijuana, or explosive, mostly composed of glycerin and potassium nitrate.
That is how TSA agents discover weed during Airport security checks.
Detecting Drugs in Checked Bags
Scanners use X-ray technology to scan the baggage and show detailed visual images of the contents inside the bag.
Security staff sitting in front of the display do the job of identifying banned items or suspicious items to start the investigation.
According to an estimate, 10 out of 100 bags are investigated and inspected due to suspicion.
So, TSA agents are just looking for malicious materials, but if they find drugs during that search, they will question you about it, which will lead to further investigation.
Detecting Drugs on a Person
People tend to hide drugs in small amounts in their body cavities, but that can also be captured now with the help of the millimeter-wave scanner and backscatter scanner.
Both these scanners can detect weed and illegal weapons, tools, narcotics, and currency that the passenger is trying to take on the plane.
The millimeter scanner scans the entire body using low-energy non-ionizing radiofrequency waves that are released to go inside the human body and bounce back, hitting bones so that machine can detect anything that comes in the way.
Similarly, the backscatter scanner uses low-energy x-ray to identify banned items and represents such things using chalk-like images of passengers that helps staff find concealed items that otherwise. wouldn’t have been figured out.
So, the most commonly used scanner in Airports is the Millimeter scanner, thanks to its accuracy.
Does the TSA Check Prescription Drugs?
As stated earlier, the diligent work of the TSA agents is to look for weapons and detonators, and they won’t ask the passenger to explain the reason for the prescription of weed or medication details.
There can be situations where drugs in the form of liquid medication can be carried on the plane for additional screening. Still, you also have a limit to carrying several liquid ounces on the plane.
So, when you carry drug-based medication, TSA won’t demand the prescription because that’s where state laws about prescription medication come into play.
Do TSA Agents not care for Drugs?
The top priority of TSA agents is to ensure the safety and security of passengers at the Airport from the possible threats caused by weapons or explosives to aviation and passengers.
That is why they are not actively looking for weed or drugs, but if they find an illegal substance with you during the search, they will hand you over to responsible authorities.
What Happens if a TSA Agfindsfind drugs?
Suppose any TSA agent finds a person carrying weed or trying to hide weed. In that case, the TSA agent will ask the person to exit the queue to separate the passenger from the other passengers to deal with the matter thoroughly.
The best part is that TSA has the right to investigate at any limits for having suspicious thoughts about anything wrong with the passenger and can open any bags for investigation.
So, even if the priority of the TSA agents is just to find weapons, they won’t hesitate to confiscate drugs found from a passenger and hand that passenger over to local police, state, or federal authorities.
TSA agents not only have the right to confiscate weapons but to weed as well, and if they find any forbidden items on you, you are going to get in trouble.
Weed for Medicine
TSA states that
“Marijuana and certain cannabis-infused products, including some Cannabidiol (CBD) oil, remain illegal under federal law except for products that contain no more than 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis or that are approved by FDA.”
So, federal law doesn’t allow anybody with medical products containing weed to fly, and anyone involved in this crime will be treated according to the laws and Airport ordinance.
Because all states have different rules for marijuana possession, like LAX state allows you to carry 28.5 grams of weed on the plane.
So, don’t underestimate the power of a TSA agent, as they have the right to handle matters involving drugs, weed, or other illegal substances.
Liquids are usually those items you can squeeze, smear, pump, spread, spray, and spill. But carrying liquids and dangerous liquids are different things, and that’s what TSA is trying to take care of.
So, TSA will stop you only when you take more than necessary liquids or dangerous liquids to ensure your and everyone else’s sasafetyTherefore; it’s wise to show even the water or soda we well at the security checkpoint to be on the safe side.
