Jamaica
Pubdate: Wed,  5 Dec 2001
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.herald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Johnny Diaz

TAMARAC MAN SUES DELTA OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Irvin Rosenfeld, who says Delta Airlines kicked him off a flight earlier 
this year when he showed up with a canister of medicinal marijuana, filed a 
suit in federal court Wednesday, accusing the airline of discrimination and 
asking for an apology.

The Tamarac stockbroker uses the marijuana to ease the pain of multiple tumors.

The suit, filed at the Fort Lauderdale federal courthouse, asks for an 
apology from the airline and reimbursement for legal fees. Rosenfeld had 
threatened to sue this summer when he shipped off a letter, through his 
attorney, asking the airline for an apology and an assurance that he and 
other disabled passengers would not face the problem in the future.

He got no response.

"This is my medicine,'' said Rosenfeld Wednesday morning, holding a 
canister of marijuana. Rosenfeld has suffered from more than 200 
nonmalignant tumors all over his body since he was 10 years old.

"All I am asking for is to be able to carry this on board [a plane] and if 
there is a long layover, to go somewhere and smoke.''

Rosenfeld said he was trying to board a Delta flight March 27 when Delta 
officials at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport refused to 
allow him to board because of his pot. He said he had flown the airline 
previously, and always alerts them that he's carrying the marijuana. He 
hadn't had problems until the March flight.

Thirty minutes before his flight, officials detained him and told him he 
needed written permission from every state he was flying over.

Otherwise, they said, he had to leave the marijuana behind.

He smokes 12 marijuana cigarettes daily to relieve the pain of a rare 
congenital disease that causes tumors to grow at the ends of his bones.

He smokes in the morning on his way to work and takes smoke breaks 
mid-morning and after lunch. He has also been flying on other airlines, he 
says, without a problem.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens