Airline passengers with small amounts of marijuana and drug smugglers with heftier amounts are being arrested at airports in ever-larger numbers
Authorities at LAX say airline passengers carrying small amounts of marijuana have been emboldened by reduced marijuana possession penalties, but that drug traffickers stuffing entire checked bags with pot have also been apprehended in much larger numbers.
However, the Los Angeles Police Department allows LAX passengers with small amounts of marijuana to pass through security -- but not smoke -- at the airport. And authorities caution that passengers face arrest or charges at their destination should they be headed toward any state where marijuana is not legal.
California is the top marijuana-producing state in the country, pushing out 13.5 million pounds of marijuana in 2016, which is about five times more than state residents consumed. The massive surplus has driven — or in this case, flown — people out of the state for business.
“Since pot’s been legalized in California, there’s no money to be made because everyone got involved in it,” said Bill Kroger Jr., a veteran criminal defense lawyer who specializes in marijuana cases. “They’ve got these big 50,000-square-foot [grow] houses, and they’re flooding the market. The money is outside of California.”
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