BALTIMORE – U.S. Customs and Border Protection reminds travelers to leave their THC edibles and other marijuana-based products behind on vacation after officers issued a $500 Zero Tolerance penalty to a traveler who recently returned from Jamaica to Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
THC products behind on vacation.
CBP officers randomly selected a 25-year-old man for a secondary baggage examination after he arrived from Montego Bay on July 28 and discovered three boxes of vape oil (108 grams), three bags of edibles (58 grams) and two bags of a green leafy substance (30 grams). All products field-tested positive for the presence of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). CBP officers seized the THC products, issued the man a $500 Zero Tolerance penalty, and released him.
CBP is not identifying the man because he was not criminally charged.
“Customs and Border Protection reminds travelers that, though they may evade arrest for possessing some products that violate federal law, such as these marijuana-based products, they won’t escape the prosect of paying a hefty civil penalty that they could use instead to buy a return trip to their favorite Caribbean paradise,” said Keith Fleming, Acting Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office.
CBP officers at BWI have recently caught other travelers boarding or deplaning international flights in possession of illicit products.
In early June, CBP officers revoked a woman’s Global Entry trusted traveler membership after officers discovered marijuana in her baggage after she arrived from the Dominican Republic. And in late June, officers issued a $500 Zero Tolerance penalty to a man heading to Montego Bay after officers found a combined 303 grams of marijuana and THC gummies in his baggage.
Though some states have decriminalized marijuana possession or use, the sale, possession, production, distribution or the facilitation of the aforementioned of both medical and recreational marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law. As federal law prohibits the importation and exportation of marijuana, crossing the international border or arriving at a U.S. port of entry with marijuana may result in seizure, fines, and/or arrest, and may impact a foreign national’s admissibility.
CBP seized an average of 3,677 pounds of dangerous drugs every day across the United States last year. Learn more about what CBP accomplished during “A Typical Day” in 2020.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. CBP officers screen international travelers and cargo and search for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders. Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.
Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on Twitter at @DFOBaltimore and on Instagram at @dfobaltimore for breaking news, current events, human-interest stories and photos.