Delta for Kicking Him off Flight Because He Was Carrying the Drug The Associated Press Published: Dec 6, 2001 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A man who legally uses marijuana for medicinal purposes is suing Delta Air Lines for kicking him off a plane because he was carrying the drug. Irvin Rosenfeld, a stockbroker from Boca Raton, filed suit Wednesday in federal court, claiming the airline violated federal protections for people with disabilities. Rosenfeld, 48, suffers from a rare and painful bone disease and finds relief in smoking marijuana, which is prescribed by a doctor and grown for the government. Every day, he smokes up to 12 marijuana cigarettes to fight tumors. In March, he was kept from boarding a Delta flight from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, D.C., where he was to attend a U.S. Supreme Court session on possible expansion of medicinal marijuana use. Officials told him he had to leave the marijuana behind or get written permission from every state he was flying over. Rosenfeld's attorney, Christopher Sharp, said refusing to seat his client on the airliner was like kicking a diabetic off the flight for carrying hypodermic needles and insulin. "We're not putting any price tag on this, but Delta's exposure in this is considerable," Sharp said. Rosenfeld is one of a handful of people in the country receiving marijuana from the federal government because of unusual diseases. He has smoked government-provided marijuana for nearly 30 years and says without the drug, his condition would become so painful that he could not walk and could hemorrhage. Under the federal Air Carriers Access Act of 1986, Delta had to specify in writing why Rosenfeld could not board the airplane and why he was thought to be a threat to the safety of those on board, Sharp said. The airline did not do that, he said. A Delta spokeswoman said she was unaware that any Americans were permitted to smoke marijuana. "Under federal law, marijuana is an illegal drug, and I'm not aware of any medical use exception of the nature he claims or of any private citizen having a right to possess it in the United States," Katie Connell said. Rosenfeld said that when Delta turned him away, he had to find a flight on another airline and did not get to Washington until the following afternoon. http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA3X79RWUC.html