There’s probably no good way to smuggle 81 pounds of marijuana across the country on a commercial flight. And if there is a good way, it probably doesn’t involve filling entire suitcases full of weed.
Jackson, Miss. native Anastasia Murdock discovered that the hard way when TSA officials at Oakland International Airport inspected her luggage and discovered a small dispensary’s worth of ganja.
Murdock was flying from Oakland, Calif. to Jackson, with layovers in Phoenix and Dallas. Officials say the total volume of marijuana discovered is valued at about $100,000.
Anastasia Murdock is now being held in police custody. According to the FBI’s own statistics, someone in the United States was arrested roughly every 42 seconds for marijuana possession in 2011. Black people are about 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for possession than white people, despite consuming pot at roughly the same rates.
Ned Resnikoff is an urban policy analyst, researcher, writer, and editor. His byline has appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Dissent, and The Nation. He writes the newsletter Public Comment, which can be found at publiccomment.blog. Recommended
