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Is medical marijuana allows on cruise ships?

On Behalf of | Jan 8, 2018 | Admiralty & Maritime Law

You may be used to being able to legally use medical marijuana in Louisiana. Perhaps you have a condition where the substance works better than anything else to bring you healing. However, if you are planning on going on a cruise, can you bring your medical marijuana along? The answer may surprise you. 

Cruzely notes that you must remember federal law still lists marijuana of any kind as illegal. Crusie ships can follow state or federal laws, so if they are docked in Louisiana, they could follow the state’s laws, but they have uniformly decided to follow federal law. This means you cannot use medical marijuana on a cruise ship. 

You will find almost all major cruise lines have this same policy. Most state they are simply following federal law. Some may also have extensive no smoking policies, which means smoking of any kind is not allowed on the ship. Others may have a general no smoking policy but have special public smoking areas. However, because they are public and shared spaces, marijuana would not be allowed. Even edibles are prohibited even though they do not produce smoke.

While this may seem unfair or unreasonable, cruise lines also have to think about the other ports where they will stop. If they dock in another state or country where marijuana is illegal, you could face issues with local law enforcement. 

The bottom line is you should assume you cannot take your medical marijuana with you on a cruise. However, you should always check with the cruise line because policies do vary. This information is educational and is not legal advice.