Smoking weed likely to be banned at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Now that pot is legal for recreational use in Minnesota, can you break out your stash while waiting for a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport?

Best to leave your cannabis at home.

An ordinance that would ban smoking marijuana at MSP is being considered by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), the authority that owns and operates the airport. If approved, the measure would go into effect Jan. 1. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor.

"Smoking or vaping of cannabis and hemp products regulated by the new law would be prohibited, including in designated smoking areas," MAC spokesperson Jeff Lea said.

When asked about other popular products, such as edibles and gummies, he replied: "There are no plans to prohibit any additional cannabis or hemp products."

The ordinance is part of a regulatory framework that has evolved since state lawmakers legalized marijuana use for adults over the age of 21 earlier this year. The result so far has been a patchwork of regulations governing its use in public places, such as St. Paul's ban of pot smoking in parks and near other city-owned sites.

More rules are likely to emerge elsewhere in the state, as the first retail dispensaries — outside of tribal nations — get ready to open in 2025.

But the legalization issue is more complicated at MSP and airports across the country due to contradictory federal and state laws, according to David Bannard, a Boston-based attorney who has advised airports (but not MSP) on the issue.

That's because marijuana remains a Class 1 controlled substance under federal law — the same as "heroin and other horrible drugs," Bannard said. While MSP is locally owned and operated, air travel still falls under federal law.

Airports nationwide have handled the conflict between state and federal regulations in a variety of ways, from outright bans to more nuanced approaches.

"I would call the situation fluid," said Bannard, who also noted that there's movement afoot on the federal level to ease restrictions governing marijuana.

The proposed measure at MSP, which may yet be tweaked by the MAC this fall before being adopted, would prohibit the smoking on airport property of "artificially derived cannabinoid, cannabis flower, cannabis product, and hemp-derived consumer product."

For travelers carrying marijuana, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson Jessica Mayle said the TSA is focused on detecting potential threats to aviation and passengers. "TSA officers are not looking for marijuana or other drugs," she said, and TSA's canines are trained to sniff out explosives, not pot.

However, if TSA employees discover marijuana during the security screening process, Mayle said they will notify airport police "because marijuana is illegal from a federal perspective." Beyond that, she said, "it is up to the police as to how they want to handle it."

While Minnesota is the 23rd state in the nation to approve pot for recreational use, airports in Denver and Seattle have had more than a decade to fine-tune the matrix of federal and state laws governing legal weed.

Denver International Airport officials opted to bar possession and consumption of marijuana altogether, and passengers can be cited for having any amount of pot at the airport. If a traveler is stopped with suspected marijuana at a TSA checkpoint, Denver police step in and investigate, according to airport officials.

If the amount of marijuana is legal under Colorado law, the passenger may continue on their trip without being cited — provided they ditch the pot.

"They have the option to return it to their vehicle or have someone not traveling [with them] take it," an airport spokesperson said. Or they can surrender it to police.

Some airports feature "amnesty boxes" where people can dispose of their stash before being screened. About two dozen such boxes are located throughout Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Midway International airports.

However, one news report said the boxes tend to draw more trash than marijuana. In one case, someone stole weed from a less-secure bin. Lea said there are no plans to use them at MSP.

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, pot isn't banned and passengers can carry it there, but they can't use it on airport property, said spokesperson Perry Cooper.

Nationwide, Bannard said, it gets confusing when travelers fly from an airport in a state allowing recreational marijuana to one that doesn't.

"It's not entirely clear that it's OK for passengers to have it," he said. "You can't take it through checkpoints, so it may be easier [for airports] to ban it than answer the question of what you do about it when people bring it on the premises."

The issue doesn't appear to be controversial at MSP, which is perhaps an indication of how mainstream marijuana use has become. A recent public hearing held by the MAC on the proposed ordinance failed to attract any comment and was over within five minutes.

"Let me ask just one more time if anyone wishes to speak," said Commissioner Don Monaco, chair of the MAC's Operations, Finance and Administration Committee. His entreaty was met with silence.