Pot on the go

Hi Ngaio. If you have a doctor’s recommendation and are travelingby air and you have a small amount of medical cannabis with you, how likely is TSA to find it and what is their likely reaction should they discover it in your carry-on? I’m curious if they confiscate it, let it go through, write you a ticket, haul you off to jail or what. I’m traveling to a bowling tournament next month and use it to help with the arthritis (I’m 63 and bowling 12 games can have an impact). I’m just trying to determine whether it is worth the effort to take some medicinal cannabis along. Thanks for the info and keep up the good work.

—MJ

Hello, MJ. You should be fine. As I wrote in a column awhile back (“Fly high?”; SN&R The 420; April 13, 2013), the Transportation Security Administration has bigger things to worry about than your small amount of medical cannabis. I mean, a pound of pot in your suitcase might cause you some problems, but a few grams and an edible or two are no big deal. Put your meds in your suitcase next to your letter of recommendation and you should be OK. You don’t say where you are headed, but I don’t think you have much to worry about. Have a safe trip and enjoy your tournament.

P.S. You may want to look into some cannabis infused salves. I hear they work great on the arthritis.

I have a CA recommendation, but an Oregon ID. I am here in Sacramento for cancer treatment. Do you know any local dispensaries that will provide meds for an out-of-stater? I read your column, it is really the main reason I read SN&R. Keep up the good work. You should expand The 420 to at least two columns.

—Mr. Bill

Technically, you don’t need to be a California resident to obtain medicine from a dispensary, but most dispensaries won’t sell meds to non-residents. It goes back to the early days of Proposition 215. David Downs wrote a good article about this issue called “Debunked: The California residency requirement for medical marijuana is a myth” and it can be read at http://bit.ly/1BWRO9v.

Your best bet is to find a friend with a recommendation and have them purchase meds for you. I know it’s a drag. Hopefully, as marijuana becomes more and more legal on the West Coast, we will figure out a way to serve out-of-state guests.

What’s your all-time favorite strain?

—Remy Niss

Funny you should ask. I was just thinking about the fantastic Haze strains that were floating around L.A. in the early 2000s, just before OG Kush became all the rage. And the “Champagne” strain of the early ’90s was phenomenal. But my two all-time faves are: The virtually extinct Chocolate Thai, and the hard-to-find but still around Northern Lights No. 5. In fact, if you know a grower or a dispensary that has any of these strains, please tell them to call me.