Posted on 12/6/2001, 12:02:54 PM by Wolfie
MARIJUANA USER KEPT OFF PLANE FILES SUIT
Man Has Prescription, Alleges Discrimination
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- When one of the seven people in the country legally allowed to puff marijuana called a news conference in the summer and threatened to sue Delta Air Lines for refusing to allow him on a plane with his herbal medicine, he was not just blowing smoke.
Irvin Rosenfeld, a 48-year-old Boca Raton stockbroker, never got the apology he wanted, so he filed a federal discrimination lawsuit Wednesday in Ft. Lauderdale, seeking unspecified monetary damages and a promise from Delta that it would stop violating the Air Carriers Access Act of 1986.
Rosenfeld has a rare and painful bone disease but finds relief in smoking marijuana, prescribed by a doctor and grown for the government. The smoking dulls the pain but does not make him euphoric, Rosenfeld said.
On an average day, Rosenfeld said, he smokes about a dozen marijuana cigarettes.
Rosenfeld said he alerted Delta a month before the March flight and that the airline had cooperated in the dozen or so times he has flown during the last 18 years.
But when he went to board a flight bound for Washington, D.C., where he was to attend a U.S. Supreme Court session on medicinal marijuana, a Delta worker told him he could not board with his canister of cannabis.
Refusing him a seat on the airliner was like booting a diabetic person from the flight because he carried hypodermic needles and insulin, said Christopher Sharp, Rosenfeld's lawyer.
The Air Carrier Access Act protects against discrimination for a disability, and a violation can result in punitive damages. Under the act, Delta was required to specify in writing why Rosenfeld could not board the airline, which it did not do, Sharp said.
Rosenfeld said he showed the Delta counter agent his prescription and even called a Broward County sheriff's officer to the counter to verify his claim.
Delta, however, said the law is on its side.
"Under federal law, marijuana is an illegal drug, and I'm not aware of any medical use exception of the nature he claims," said Katie Connell, a Delta spokeswoman.
Are you aware that this quote makes you sound like an idiot, Katie?
They allow passengers that have been drinking to
board, and serve them more booze....
But someone with pot is refused?
I would think they would prefer someone that's
mellowed out rather than in a drunken rage...
"Have you flown before?"
"I'm flyin' now, baby"
She is correct, in this instance.
Wahh!!! My feewings were hurt. Don't you know that marijuana is a wonderweed and cures everything. You owe me $3,000,000,000 you meanies.
I knew this name sounded familiar. I think he filed suits down here in Boca after last year's election mess. I believe he claimed he could not read the "butterfly ballot" after smoking his 12 doobies a day. He also thinks but is not sure that he voted for Buchanan instead of Gore.
Yes, he is a Democrat.
sorry, we don't have that much money. instead have a joint.
sorry, we don't have that much money. instead have a joint.
sorry, we don't have that much money. instead have a joint.
Thats not what she said. Several States have made exemptions for therapeutic use of marijuana for patients suffering from a number of ailments including the nausea from cancer treatment. These are exemptions voted for by the people of those States. It's the Feds that are trying to overturn the will of the people. And Dane.
In 1976, a Washington, D.C. man afflicted by glaucoma employed the little-used Common Law doctrine of necessity to defend himself against criminal charges of marijuana cultivation. On November 24, 1976, federal Judge James Washington ruled Randall's use of marijuana constituted a "medical necessity." In part, Judge Washington ruled:
"While blindness was shown by competent medical testimony to be the otherwise inevitable result of defendant's disease, no adverse effects from the smoking of marijuana have been demonstrated.... Medical evidence suggests that the medical prohibition is not well-founded."
Judge Washington dismissed criminal charges against Randall. Concurrent with this judicial determination, federal agencies responding to a May, 1976 petition filed by Randall, began providing this patient with licit, FDA-approved access to government supplies of medical marijuana. Randall was the first American to receive marijuana for the treatment of a medical disorder.
Randall v. U.S.
In 1978, federal agencies, disquieted by Randall's outspoken opposition to the medical prohibition, sought to silence him by disupting his legal access to marijuana.
In response, Randall, represented pro bono publico by the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, brought suit against FDA, DEA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health, Education & Welfare.
Twenty-four hours after the suit was filed, federal agencies requested an out-of-court settlement. The resulting settlement provided Randall with prescriptive access to marijuana through a federal pharmacy located near his home.
The settlement in Randall v. U.S. became the legal basis for FDA's Compassionate IND program. Initially, this program was limited to patients afflicted by marijuana-responsive disorders and some orphan drugs. In the mid-1980's however, the Compassionate IND concept was expanded to include HIV-positive people seeking legal access to drugs which had not yet received final FDA marketing approval.
Maybe you should put down the joint after you posted the same thing three times.
charming
Sighhh.... The mental excercises peopel will go through. IF its approved, then its not illegal. Do you know how much "illegal" drugs are transported by U.S. air carriers every day?
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