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Put the pot in the box, please.
Colorado Springs Airport set up a so-called “amnesty boxes” this month that allow people to forfeit their recreational or medical marijuana before boarding a plane, rather than risk a hefty fine and potential jail time. The boxes—which are part of the city’s overall effort to ban pot at the airport—were put into place shortly after recreational marijuana became legal across Colorado.
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Colorado Spring’s decision comes on the heels of an announcement late last year from officials at Denver International Airport who said they were banning marijuana on the property as part of a plan to help prevent interstate drug trafficking and running afoul of federal law. The Springs, in contrast, has seemed a bit slow to adjust to the state’s new marijuana laws. While Denver’s city council has widely debated the wheres and hows of pot in the city, Colorado Springs officials are still deciding whether it will be illegal to smoke marijuana in city buildings. That matter likely will be discussed at a January 28 meeting, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
The newspaper says passengers at the airport can forfeit their pot before it’s discovered and not face a penalty. If the marijuana is found through a search, police will be called, and violators could face a fine up to $2,500—plus possible jail time.
And what happens to the pot in the box? It’ll be destroyed.
—Image courtesy of Shutterstock