Cannabis company advertising on TSA screening bins

A cannabis manufacturer has launched a new advertising campaign in an unlikely place: the screening bins at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints.

Organa Brands, a leading cannabis oil manufacturing and distribution company, has purchased ads in the bottom of X-ray screening trays that read, “Cannabis is legal. Traveling with it is not. Leave it in California,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

The purpose of the ad campaign is twofold. The company wants to advertise that marijuana will soon be legal in California, beginning on Jan. 1, 2018. But the company also wants to get ahead of potential problems and confusion at airports as more states legalize the drug.

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Organa Brands reportedly contacted Security Point Media, which owns a patent on the plastic bins and the carts that move them around at airport security checkpoints. The company also allows clients to place ads in the bottom of the trays, but airport officials must approve the messages.

“We are working hard to normalize [cannabis] and do good,” Organa Brands co-founder Jeremy Heidl told the Los Angeles Times. “We felt like this was a responsible campaign.”

An increasing number of states have legalized medical and recreational weed. But possession of marijuana, even if it’s prescribed by a doctor, is still prohibited by federal law and classified as a Schedule I drug.

The TSA has warned that while officers are not looking for medical marijuana, they still have to report it to law enforcement if drugs are discovered.