Virginia, Richmond

[palmspringsbum]

Plane trip? Leave the pot

New policies now apply

BY CHIP JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Apr 12, 2006


<img src=bin/cartoon-richmond.jpg align=right title="ILLUSTRATION BY HATLEY MASON/RTD">The leisure traveler at Richmond International Airport was catching a plane to meet a friend at a western ski resort. Why not stash a couple of marijuana cigarettes to smoke for old times' sake?

"It's just a good experience to be able to do it on the ski slope," the man said in an interview last week. "Have a couple of puffs and get a little glow on."

His fantasy fizzled at a security checkpoint on March 25, 2003.

The traveler was one of 21 passengers stopped by police for carrying a small amount of marijuana or drug paraphernalia at the airport from 2003 to 2005, according to police reports obtained by The Times-Dispatch through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Most of the passengers got off with a verbal reprimand, and their marijuana, pipes or rolling papers were thrown away, according to police accounts.

"It happened as I boarded the plane and they took every third person" out of line, making them remove their shoes, the traveler recalled. A screener "took my shoes and it fell right out. Had I been smart about it, I probably would have put it in my sock," the man, 42 at the time, said of the joints.

The airport's procedures concerning drugs and paraphernalia were revised last month after Stephen B. Johnson, then a member of the Richmond School Board, was stopped at a security checkpoint Feb. 28.

Johnson admitted to possessing three hand-rolled joints found in a pack of cigarettes. Johnson, who said the drugs were for medicinal purposes, was not charged. He later resigned from the board. Airport police confiscated the drugs and let Johnson go.

<table class=posttable align=right width=200>
<tr><td clas=postcell>
<center>Drug search policies </center>

Richmond International Airport officials tightened their policy after a Richmond School Board member was found carrying marijuana.

Old policy: Allowed officer discretion to decide whether to issue a court summons for the misdemeanor crime of possessing a small amount of marijuana and/or drug paraphernalia. In most cases, no summons was issued, and police said they destroyed the evidence.

New policy: Removes officer discretion. Whenever marijuana or paraphernalia is found, police must issue a summons for the offending passenger to appear in court. All contraband must be held as evidence.

SOURCE: Capital Region Airport Commission
</td></tr></table>Jon Mathiasen, airport president and chief executive, said a long-standing policy used to give officers "some discretion in terms of minor violations."

Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Wade Kizer said Johnson should have been arrested and released on a summons, which is prescribed in a misdemeanor case. The airport police should not have destroyed Johnson's joints but rather should have seized them and sent them to the Virginia Department of Forensic Testing, he said.

Johnson's confiscated drugs were photographed, then destroyed, according to Kizer and the police report. In all but a few cases, the evidence was destroyed, usually with at least one police officer serving as a witness, the reports show.

Now airport police must confiscate any marijuana found during screening, including paraphernalia with residue, and issue a summons to appear in court.

Only three of the 21 passengers stopped over the three years before Johnson were issued summons to appear in court in Henrico.

The vacationing skier's case was fairly typical: He was questioned and released after admitting to a police officer that he "was extremely embarrassed by the incident" and wouldn't do it again.

The man said he worked as an emergency medical technician and, the arresting officer wrote, "it wasn't worth his E.M.T. job."

In two instances, the records show, passengers paid fines of up to $150. One 52-year-old Richmond man received a 30-day jail sentence that was suspended on the condition that he maintain good behavior for a year.

The reports provide glimpses of surprised passengers trying to explain why they were packing pot. The drug-toting travelers ranged in age from a 67-year-old Prince George man to a 23-year-old Richmond man. Each denied knowing how drugs or a pipe had gotten into their bags.

One Richmond woman flying to Atlanta on Delta Air Lines was found with a single illegal cigarette in her checked baggage. "She stated she was at a Rolling Stones concert the previous night and forgot that the cigarette was in her bag," the arresting officer wrote on Oct. 7, 2005.

The Stones played in Charlottesville the night before.

After a criminal background check cleared the woman, the officer advised her of the seriousness of "traveling with contraband," and let her go. In all 21 cases, the airport police ran criminal background checks.

The use of officer discretion led to various interpretations of the law and varying degrees of customer service, the records show.

On Dec. 14, 2004, a passenger from North Carolina was found carrying marijuana inside his eyeglass case. The officer said he chose not to charge the man "due to the fact that it was a misdemeanor charge and also because he was from out of town and would have had to travel back to Richmond for a court case that would have resulted in a minor fine."

When another passenger was stopped and charged with a misdemeanor, according to a Nov. 8, 2002, report, the passenger "asked if he was going to make his flight. I told him we needed to go down to the office but that he would probably make his flight."

The next November, a regional drug task force -- including the Virginia State Police -- was tipped off that two travelers from Florida with pit bulls might have "dogs possibly carrying narcotics inside them."

The dogs were cleared, though, after a small amount of marijuana was found on one of the men.

The papers don't explain how the police searched the pit bulls.


Contact staff writer Chip Jones at cjones@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6726.