FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A man who legally smokes marijuana for medicinal purposes should have been allowed to board a Delta Air Lines flight with the drug, federal officials said.
But the U.S. Department of Transportation dismissed a complaint filed by stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld, who alleged that the airline discriminated against him when ticket agents refused to let him board a flight in 2001 from Fort Lauderdale to Washington.
Rosenfeld, who suffers a chronic bone condition, has legally smoked pot since he was placed in the federal government's medical marijuana program in 1982. He is among fewer than 10 people who have the right to carry marijuana under the program, which stopped accepting new patients in 1992.
A Delta spokesman said the airline had no comment.
The government report, released Friday, said Rosenfeld's conduct during the incident amounted to "grandstanding." Rosenfeld said marijuana is the only medication effective in treating a rare bone disease causing tumor growth, muscle spasms and internal bleeding. He smokes about 12 joints each day.
He plans to appeal the order.