About the car search at entry...

[samhandwich22]

I am trying to smuggle in lots of drugs and want to know where I can place them so they wont be found and confiscated.

Actually I am not quite doing that, but I do plan on bringing several herbal and mineral supplements that usually come stuffed in gel caps. This is my medicine on the playa and will range from magnesium to ginger powder. They tend resemble illegal drugs and previously I have had issues with security at festivals questioning and confiscating them as a result.

The official solution seems to be to keep them with their original bottles for easy identification but it isnt practical for me to bring 20 bottles of supplements when I could just take the small amounts I need for the week and place them in a ziplock bag. Bringing the bottles = a lot of unnecessary bulk! Really now, a bunch of dime bags stuffed with various gel-capped powders; they are going to look like drugs. The question is, how do I get them past the vehicle searchers? I dont mean to be deceptive but I want my supplements!

Another question of relevance is how do I prepare my vehicle for the search? It is going to be stuffed to the brim with our supplies, are the searchers really going to take every item out and scour the nooks and crannies of the vehicle? How long does the search take?

[danibel]

I don't think the gate gives a poop about your pills. They are looking for stowaways. The easier you make it for them to check your vehicle and ensure you are not bringing in the verboten items, the better. They are not cops.

Make sure your license plate is visible (lighted at night), your tags are current, and check your brake lights, all that. Do not give the cops (who are not Gate or Greeters) a reason to pull you over. Do not go one mile over 5mph once on the gate road, and the driver should not "start the party" on the way in. The past few years BLM has lined up cars to pull people over after the Greeters, right as you get to the roads of the city (or anywhere in between). They look for any reason to pull you over. So just don't give them one. Wear your seatbelt, don't speed, you know stuff like that.

Have a great burn.

[Dork]

When the gate crew searches your vehicle, they're looking for stowaways, dogs, and unapproved mutant vehicles. If your pills are in a small opaque container they won't see them, and even if they did they won't care. They don't have the time or desire to identify every little pill, chocolate, brownie, cookie, powder, stamp, plant material, etc that every burner brings in with them. Work with them to clear things out of the way so they can look in every crevice large enough to fit a person and it will all be over quickly.

If a police officer asks for permission to search, always say no. It's your constitutional right. Never have any open containers of alcohol in your vehicle and never have anything suspicious looking in plain view and you'll be ok.