Drug paraphernalia Charge?

I live in the California and was arrested at an Illinois airport for a drug paraphernalia charge because I had a small 3 inch black pipe in my backpack. I completely forgot that I had the pipe in my backpack when i went to the airport and it was found my Illinois airport security. I told them that it was a tabacco pipe (which it has been used for) and that it has never been used for an illegal drug before. Luckily, they cited me and let me go in time to make my flight back to California, however they said that I may be in trouble with the Illinois courts and could be getting contacted or eventually have a warrant for my arrest in California.

I am 19 years old and a student at the Univerisity of California at santa cruz and have never had any problems with the law before. I am pretty sure that in California they cannot arrest you for having a tobacco pipe like this because they sell them at many stores. This harmless pipe i actually bought in a store legally for about 5 dollars.

Another thing that I thought possibly significant to mention that the airport secuirty was VERY unprofessional. First the guy didnt know how to put handcuffs on me and it took him 5 minutes. Then he had me sit in a chair right in front the baggage security for about 45 minutes where i was handcuffed in front of my family and everyone in the airport going through security saw me there. Couldnt they have at least took me to a separate room so I was not publicly humiliated for almost an hour where everyone was seeing me? the security guard finally let me go and we got onto our flight bearly before the plan took off and I realized that the security guard had not even given me my California Drivers License back. I had to run back to the security guard and get it, this made me almost miss my flight AGAIN.

I am wondering what do you think will happen next for me? What would you recommend that I do? I really would like to have a clean record because I am currently working and a full time student. I do not have much money to spend so getting a lawyer would be difficult for me.

Any Advice would be much appreciated!

P.S. just a thought: Im pretty sure u can take cigarettes on a plane as long as u arnt smoking, why cant u take a pipe?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Also i went through the california airport security on the way going to illinois and they let me through without trouble.

In some states a marijuana pipe is illegal. While we legally consider it to be a tobacco pipe, everyone knows what they are really used for and other states call a spade a spade.

What section were you cited for? You may be able to simply pay the fine by mail and be done with it.

You wont get an arrest warrant from or in CA for that charge.

You may end up with an arrest warrant in that state for that charge. Even if illegal, its surely no more than a misdemeanor - so youre not going to be extradited. You could be in an uncomfortable spot by having an outstanding arrest warrant from that state showing up if stopped in CA though.

I would think you could hire an attorney to handle it there.

I dont know the laws there in regards to possession of a colorful tobacco pipe. CA youwould be good.. but you left CA...

Illinois appears not to have a paraphernalia statute either. They can probably argue trace amounts of drug residue if they really want to pursue it.

Frankly if the only people you talked to were TSA guys, I suspect it's highly unlikely you are going to get charged. They have no police authority and usually hand things directly off to the local authorities when they have an issue.