{"id":8100,"date":"2018-02-27T00:27:33","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T00:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2965478&amp;preview_id=2965478"},"modified":"2018-02-27T00:27:33","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T00:27:33","slug":"airport-amnesty-boxes-for-marijuana-dia-doesnt-see-the-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/airport-amnesty-boxes-for-marijuana-dia-doesnt-see-the-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Airport \u201camnesty boxes\u201d for marijuana? DIA doesn\u2019t see the need"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/airport-amnesty-boxes-for-marijuana-dia-doesnt-see-the-need\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Feb 26, 2018, 4:07 pm \u2022 Updated: Feb 26, 2018, 6:46 pm <span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Travelers departing Denver International Airport have received the message \u201cloud and clear\u201d that they\u2019re not supposed to fly with marijuana, airport officials say.<\/p>\n<p>The incidents of Transportation Security Administration officials discovering marijuana on passengers are so few and far between that DIA stopped tracking those contacts and sees no need for so-called \u201camnesty boxes\u201d in which flyers can dispose of their federally illegal weed, said airport spokesman Heath Montgomery.<\/p>\n<p>In Las Vegas, where recreational marijuana was legalized last July, McCarran International Airport earlier this month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/02\/22\/marijuana-amnesty-boxes-airport-las-vegas\/99771\/\">installed 10 green amnesty boxes<\/a> so that passengers jetting out of Sin City can dump their leftover legal marijuana. Two airports in Colorado \u2014 Aspen-Pitkin County and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2014\/12\/01\/airport-marijuana-amnesty-boxes-rarely-used-weed-disposal\/24339\/\">Colorado Springs<\/a> \u2014 already have similar disposal bins in place.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/airport-amnesty-boxes-for-marijuana-dia-doesnt-see-the-need.jpg\" alt=\"Nevada Marijuana-Amnesty Boxes\" width=\"500\" height=\"356\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-99790\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A metal container designed for \u201cDisposal for Prescription and Recreational Drugs,\u201d sits outside one of the entrances to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. (AP Photo\/Regina Garcia Cano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But in the four-plus years since Colorado initiated adult-use cannabis sales, DIA has been \u201cvery successful with not having to do that,\u201d Montgomery said of the secured disposal bins.<\/p>\n<p>DIA banned marijuana possession, consumption and use on the expansive, 53-square-mile airport property <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2013\/12\/29\/dia-first-denver-facility-to-ban-marijuana-possession\/\">at the time<\/a> Colorado implemented legal recreational marijuana sales in January 2014, Montgomery said. Signs were installed to inform people of the airport\u2019s regulations and also to remind them that marijuana remains federally illegal and, as such, can\u2019t be taken on planes. <\/p>\n<p>In January 2015, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2015\/01\/28\/denver-airport-bans-marijuana-souvenirs\/28748\/\">DIA banned the sale of marijuana-themed souvenirs<\/a> to enforce that message. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think people got the message loud and clear that they were not supposed to fly with the drug,\u201d Montgomery said.<\/p>\n<p>In the first couple of years after legalization, DIA saw about 30 to 40 incidents out of 50 million-plus passenger trips, Montgomery said. Last year, the airport saw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flydenver.com\/sites\/default\/files\/downloads\/18-006%20Dec%20Pax%20Traffic.pdf\">a record 61.4 million passengers<\/a>, yet the number of those flyers found with marijuana continues to be \u201cminuscule\u201d to the point it\u2019s not worth the police officers\u2019 time to draft up incident reports, he said.<\/p>\n<p>If TSA officials find marijuana on a passenger, they contact Denver Police officers who then determine if the amount found was for the passenger\u2019s personal use or large enough to be considered illegal trafficking. If the former, the passenger is informed of the airport\u2019s policy and given the option to throw it away or return the product home.<\/p>\n<p>There are trashcans at TSA checkpoints where people can dispose of restricted items, including marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGenerally speaking, people don\u2019t dig into trashcans at an international airport, Montgomery said. \u201cThat\u2019s not an advisable activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DIA has seen success with the rules in place, Montgomery said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt a higher level, people just understand they\u2019re not supposed to fly with marijuana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#013; &#013; <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/airport-amnesty-boxes-for-marijuana-dia-doesnt-see-the-need-1.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. In her 14 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned topics such as the economy, natural foods, airlines, biotech, retail,&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Travelers departing Denver International Airport have received the message \u201cloud and clear\u201d that they\u2019re not supposed to fly with marijuana, airport officials say. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7528,6811,7532,6813,77,6815,9,5019,1,3,7064,61,1736],"tags":[7529,6816,7533,6818,2655,6820,5022,7065],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}