New York Police No Longer Seizing Cannabis in Airports

Police at Albany International and other major New York airports are no longer making arrests, writing tickets, or conducting product seizures in the case of low-level cannabis possession by travelers, according to a Times Union report.

The new policy is a result of New York’s recent legalization of adult-use cannabis.

According to Bart R. Johnson, former State Police colonel and current federal security director for 15 upstate New York airports, “We don’t seize [cannabis]. We just look for threats—explosives, knives, guns; we don’t look for illegally possessed narcotics.” Rather, if a suspected illegal substance is discovered during TSA officers’ search for threat-related contraband, “we notify law enforcement.”