Can I Travel with Medical Cannabis products?
Traveling has almost always been cumbersome, from the planning to the packing, to you and your belongings meeting concurrently at your intended destination. You might be making your first trip in years. Travel stimulates your brain, boosts your self-confidence, exposes you to new experiences, and connects you with friends and family you haven’t seen in a long time. But as with most things in life, there are hitches, like ever-changing rules about traveling with your medical cannabis products such as edibles, vapes, tinctures, lotions, and capsules.
A medical cannabis patient recently wrote to us and asked, “Can I travel with medical cannabis products?” This is an interesting question we thought was worthy of further inquiry.
After thorough research on the subject, looking at federal and international laws, state regulations and reciprocity, and modes of travel, this is what we concluded… Don’t!
The smallest medical cannabis error on your part could mean stiff outcomes: getting arrested, being detained, and going without your medicine. Crossing state lines with cannabis is a federal offense. Sometimes it’s hard to remember medical cannabis is still federally punishable. Many states offer “Reciprocity.” This means you can use your MJ card in another state that has an agreement with yours to dispense cannabis products to you.
Because medical cannabis is not legal worldwide, Do Not Travel with it in any form outside the U.S. In the past, U.S. citizens have faced stiff penalties for traveling with medical cannabis products.
Case in point. American athlete Brittney Griner was detained after the Russian authorities accused her of carrying hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. Griner was traveling to Russia to rejoin her professional team, UMMC Yekaterinburg, which she played for during the W.N.B.A. off-season. The Russian Federal Customs Service said that a sniffer dog had prompted it to search Griner’s carry-on luggage, and that it had found vape cartridges containing hashish oil. (Tania Ganguli, Jonathan Abrams and Emma Bubola. (2022, December 17). What We Know About Brittney Griner’s Release from Russia. Retrieved October 9, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/article/brittney-griner-russia.html
Do not consume edibles, smoke or vape your medical cannabis products while driving a motor vehicle, operating a boat or piloting aircraft. Only carry small amounts of medical cannabis and always carry your up-to-date medical marijuana card.
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