Vegas Airport Lets Flyers Dump Marijuana Before Taking Off

Nevada legalized marijuana, but airports fall under federal jurisdiction
By Josh Gardner,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 25, 2018 3:30 PM CST
Las Vegas Airport Offers Boxes For Dumping Your Weed
Unidentified travelers exit the airport past a green metal container designed for "Disposal for Prescription and Recreational Drugs"   (AP Photo/Regina Garcia Cano)

The Las Vegas airport has installed boxes where folks leaving Sin City can dispose of their stash of marijuana before flying, no questions asked. Per SFGate, the city's main hub for air travel, McCarran International Airport, installed the "amnesty boxes" following a vote by the Clark County Commission last year to ban marijuana possession on airport property. While Nevada has legalized the use and possession of the drug, marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Because airports fall under federal jurisdiction, officials installed the boxes in order to keep airport policy in line with federal laws. The amnesty boxes also help prevent flyers from getting into trouble as they pass through the airport security line. All told, county officials plan to install 20 of the boxes at McCarran.

Other airports have installed similar boxes before. Like Nevada, the state of Colorado has legalized recreational use of marijuana. And, like Nevada, some of Colorado's airports installed similar boxes after the state passed a recreational marijuana law in 2012, reports CNN. The boxes have been designed to allow travelers to toss their marijuana and marijuana products while preventing any passersby looking for a free high from reaching inside. Colorado and Nevada are among nine states, along with the District of Columbia, where recreational marijuana use has been legalized. (More Las Vegas stories.)

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