At the end of September, I traveled to Oahu, Hawaii to attend the funeral of my year younger brother who died suddenly of a heart attack.
In preparation to fly to Hawaii I reviewed the TSA and interstate laws on traveling with cannabis medicines as a Washington State Medical Cannabis Patient.
Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii still prohibit transporting recreational or cannabis medicines across state lines: by plane, by car, by bike or by walking.
It remains a federal offense.
However, anyone over age 21 can present a valid ID to purchase cannabis in fully recreational states like in Washington, Oregon or California.
You just cannot transport it in from another state.
This excludes CBD products with less than 0.3% THC approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
You can bring CBD gummies, tinctures or pills on a flight, but remember, TSA limits bringing liquid, foods or beverage over 3 oz. since there are restrictions on the amount of food or beverage passengers can carry on. Therefore, many edibles could get inspected and seized.
For example, I had my 4 oz sealed strawberry yogurt container seized as it was 4 oz. which was over 3 oz. TSA threw it away and there went my mid-flight snack.
What about checked baggage? Per the TSA, CBD products are allowed in checked luggage. Edibles will appear in the scanner with the same orange color as every other organic material.
Does TSA check bags for THC infused products like edibles?
Packing THC infused products like edibles, tinctures or vape cartridges in your checked bag has the same result as walking through security with them. If they are discovered during a search of your bag by TSA, they will hand them over to local law enforcement who will take it from there.
Hawaii is a medical cannabis only state. Hawaii allows medical cannabis patients to register as an out of state medical cannabis patient when traveling to Hawaii.
The fee is $49.50. Like Washington and Oregon, it has specific qualifying conditions to qualify as a medical cannabis patient.
Seeing that my qualifying conditions were covered in Hawaii, and that there were two dispensaries’ close to my condo, I opted to spend the $49.50 and register as an out of state medical cannabis patient.
In order to become registered to purchase medical cannabis at one of the 4 dispensaries on Oahu I needed to fill out the Hawaii application uploading copies of my WA state driver’s license and my WA Medical Cannabis card.
After paying the $49.50 registration fee I was emailed paper copy of Hawaii’s 329 Medical Cannabis Card, which I stuck it in my wallet next to my WA state medical cannabis card.
In Hawaii I walked into the lobby of the Aloha Green Dispensary in Waikiki, and presented the Hawaii 329 card along with my WA state Driver’s license. I was then asked to walk through a metal detector. I was given a clip board, told to sit and given a form asking the same questions asked on the on-line application to obtain the 329 card.
While I filled out the form, my driver’s license and Hawaii out of state card were handed through a security window and inspected.
Once I handed back the completed form, I was buzzed through a locked door into the small area where I was given back my ID cards and directed to a 20-foot glass counter where a bud tender asked me what I was interested in. While the selection of cannabis medicine was limited, the pricing was similar. You can see the link to products and prices below.
Having perused the on- line menu I knew what I wanted and chose a bag of 10 one to one CBD/THC edibles, a $10 vape pen along with a hybrid cartridge.
On my return flight, I packed my checked luggage including a bottle of full spectrum CBD capsules, 3 bottles of prescription medicines, Vitamin D capsules and a sealed bottle of 12-year-old MacCallum Scotch. A memento from my deceased brothers liquor cabinet.
I did not pack the unused cannabis medicines. I left them with a family member who resides in Oahu and uses medical cannabis.
All the packed items, including the bottle of scotch, made it back without TSA interventions.
When I googled “How do you get medical cannabis edibles through TSA?” here is what I found.
“If you're trying to fly with THC edibles, stash them in a resealable fruit snack or gummy bear pouch — something that's also not a permeable plastic ziplock bag. If you use a ziplock bag, your edibles will scan as orange, which alerts TSA of “biological material.” Fortunately, most vape pens can pass as eCigarrettes.”
Sadly, medical cannabis patients are subject to risks of arrest for interstate transport of their medicines if they cannot afford the extra fees to obtain legally prescribed cannabis medicines in a medical only state like Hawaii.
Links:
Medical Cannabis Registry | Medical Cannabis Registry Program | Out-of-State Patient Application (hawaii.gov)
Hawaii Dispensary website:
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