A prominent cannabis beverage brand recently punked U.S. travelers with a social media campaign claiming it had reached a deal with a major airline to offer cannabis-infused beverages on domestic flights. If you were fooled, you are not alone. Here is the truth: you cannot purchase cannabis beverages on airlines.
Trying to Make a Point
Marijuana Moment identified the beverage brand as Drippy. The company sells beverages infused with both THC and CBN. They recently launched a social media campaign claiming they had struck a partnership with Virgin Atlantic to offer their products on select U.S. flights.
Drippy went so far as to post screenshots of an alleged letter from Virgin Atlantic, a letter that ostensibly verified the two companies’ partnership. They insisted that their post was not satire. Perhaps it wasn’t. But the information in the post also wasn’t true.
After an official denial from Virgin Atlantic, Drippy was forced to come clean. Company officials claimed they were not trying to be satirical at all. Rather they were trying to make a point: it makes little sense that airline passengers can purchase alcohol in flight but not cannabis-infused drinks.
The basis of their argument is the belief that cannabis-infused drinks are legal. That is where they are wrong. Beverages infused with CBD are just fine thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill’s legalization of hemp and CBD. But THC is still federally illegal. Ergo, so are THC-infused beverages.
Federal Prohibition Remains
None of this makes sense to someone who does not understand how our constitutional republic works. Under the U.S. Constitution, both the federal government and its state counterparts have jurisdiction over certain issues. What is not expressly addressed in the Constitution is left to the states.
Congress created the DEA and gave it the authority to create and maintain a list of controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Historically, courts have sided with Congress in disputes over their authority to create regulatory agencies. They have consistently upheld the constitutionality of said agencies and their power to implement regulations.
Therefore, as long as marijuana and its derivatives remain illegal under federal law, they are banned from interstate transport. That means they cannot be carried on planes. They cannot be transported across state lines on trucks or trains. State legalization has no bearing on the question.
State Legalization Efforts
State legalization efforts have sought to bypass federal regulations. But all the states have done is decriminalize medical cannabis and, in some cases, recreational marijuana. They have not legalized anything for the simple fact that federal law preempts state law.
If that is the case, how can Salt Lake City’s Beehive Farmacy operate a medical cannabis pharmacy that sells all sorts of THC products? How can Arizona be home to so many recreational marijuana dispensaries?
Nears back, Congress wanted to give approval to medical cannabis without going on record as having voted for it. So they added a rider to a budget proposal that would prevent the DOJ from spending any federal funds on marijuana law enforcement. The proposal passed and has been renewed every year since.
Leave Your Cannabis at Home
States currently enjoy the freedom to regulate cannabis within their borders only because the DOJ’s hands remain tied. But the restrictions against them only apply to state matters. Once you board a plane, all bets are off. Leave your cannabis at home.
Drippy makes an interesting point, albeit an irrelevant one. No domestic airline, including Virgin Atlantic, is serving THC-infused drinks in-flight. But you can still buy vodka on the rocks.