cannabisnews.com: Man Travels With Pot, His 'Medicine'





Man Travels With Pot, His 'Medicine'
Posted by CN Staff on April 06, 2003 at 23:28:07 PT
By Eliot Kleinberg, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Source: Palm Beach Post
Fort Lauderdale -- Irvin Rosenfeld was so nervous he had forgotten his winter jacket. The former Boca Raton stockbroker, his heart in his throat, stepped gingerly through the security checkpoint, tensely dropping his cellphone and other personal items into a plastic bin. That's because Rosenfeld's small, black soft-sided suitcase held a metal tin with enough marijuana for about 70 joints.
The X-ray machine took no notice of the tin, or if it did, the guard paid him no heed and didn't notice the ace bandage on Rosenfeld's right foot after he removed his moccasins and dropped them in as well. As he walked to the gate, he was fraught with panic that at any moment, he could be yanked off the plane or kept from getting on at all. But no one stopped him at the gate, and soon he was on his way to a family gathering in New Jersey. Rosenfeld has to carry the pot. His body is a mass of tumors, and the marijuana is the only medicine that reduces the pain enough for him to even walk. Without it, he says, he could have a dangerous or even lethal hemorrhage. The federal government grows the pot in Mississippi and ships it to a pharmacy at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami for Rosenfeld to pick up.And everywhere he goes, he has to explain himself. In 2001, Delta Air Lines blocked him from a plane. Rosenfeld sued, then decided to drop the suit because of an appeals court's ruling in a similar case and now has a complaint before the U.S. Department of Transportation. But he had those Delta frequent flyer miles he hated to eat, and Delta was the airline with the best connections for his wife to join him in New Jersey from her business trip in California.So, on March 28, for the first time since Delta turned him away, he was again flying Delta."Can you believe it?" he said as he waited in line to pass security. "I'm so nervous because I don't know what's going to happen. I'm shaking. It's not right." He returned the following Sunday without incident, not nearly as nervous as when he had left.Asked if Rosenfeld's weekend excursion represented a change in Delta policy, spokeswoman Peggy Estes said last week, "We don't have a policy. We didn't make a policy. He is welcome to fly on Delta Air Lines." Asked if his marijuana was now welcome as well, she responded, "I didn't say that." When asked to elaborate, she said, "That's the only comment I have." Thirty years of using 'my medicine' Rosenfeld, who lives and works in Broward County, said he can go without marijuana for three to four hours before the pain spreads. He has gone as long as two days. Without his medicine, he said, he'd have been in too much pain to attend the bat mitzvah of his cousin's daughter, especially in the cold and damp of a New Jersey spring.Rosenfeld said he called Delta a month in advance to alert them and called again two weeks before his flight. He also said he explained his situation to a woman at the new Transportation Security Administration in Washington."She couldn't believe it," Rosenfeld said. "They assured me they're in charge of who gets on a plane, not Delta. They're security, not another airline."TSA spokesman Brian Trumail, in Washington, said last week that what the woman told Rosenfeld was correct as far as the security checkpoint goes but that an airline still has the right to bar a passenger.For more than 30 years, Rosenfeld has smoked about a dozen joints a day, two about every two hours. He insists on calling the pot "my medicine" and has become a national advocate for allowing medicinal use of cannabis, either in marijuana or in an effective pill, which he says has not been perfected. He opposes legalization for recreational use. For the first 10 years, he bought pot wherever he could. Then, Rosenfeld become one of 13 people nationwide supplied marijuana by the federal government in the 1980s. He was the second one approved, in 1982. The 13 were grandfathered in when the program was shut down in 1992. The five who had AIDS have since died. A sixth, with glaucoma, died a year ago. Arrested, detained in the 1980s Rosenfeld was arrested in 1983 in Orlando after smoking a joint in a second-floor bathroom at Church Street Station. The officer told him Florida law superseded federal law, and he was fingerprinted and photographed. A supervisor was persuaded to release him after about three hours, and the charges were dropped three days later. In 1985, he was detained for three hours at Walt Disney World after he was caught smoking the pot in the park. A policeman once pulled a gun on him. But he'd never had problems with airlines until the March 2001 confrontation with Delta. Just last month, Rosenfeld got Georgetown University's Institute for Public Representation in on his case and filed his formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Staff attorney Sheila Bedi, who argued the failed case that effectively shut down Rosenfeld's lawsuit, said the DOT has "taken these complaints much more seriously than they have in the past. Often they're looking for a pattern or practice, and we have an isolated incident. But the violation was pretty egregious."Delta's initial defense had been that Rosenfeld hadn't adequately informed the airline he had federal permission to travel with the marijuana. Rosenfeld disputed that, saying he flew on Delta and other airlines dozens of times over several years and cleared his pot with airline and airport officials every time.After Rosenfeld sued in December 2001, a Delta spokeswoman said the airline was "not aware of any medical use exception of the nature that Mr. Rosenfeld claims" and that if the federal government advised Rosenfeld was permitted to carry the pot, Delta would comply."All they had to do was pick up the phone," Rosenfeld said. "And if they didn't believe Bascom Palmer, pick up the phone and call FDA and DEA. I had the numbers for them."Despite the fact that the federal government supplies the pot, Rosenfeld has never been able to obtain a document he could carry with him saying it's OK for him to carry the drugs."I'd love to get that," he said. "They won't do it."He asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which administered the original program and grows the pot. The agency said he'd need a letter from Rosenfeld's private doctor, who writes the prescription, But, Rosenfeld said, the doctor did not want to get into a wrestling match with the federal government. He asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but DEA lawyer Charles Trant wrote his lawyers in November 2002 that the agency wasn't authorized to offer such a document."DEA does not have the statutory authority to authorize anyone to possess" marijuana, spokesman Will Glaspy said. "Additionally, there is nothing that DEA could provide to Mr. Rosenfeld that would allow him to override state laws."Source: Palm Beach Post (FL)Author: Eliot Kleinberg, Palm Beach Post Staff WriterPublished: Monday, April 7, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Palm Beach PostContact: letters pbpost.comWebsite: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmSuit Dropped in Fight Over Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14994.shtmlLegal Pot-Smoker from Boca Sues Airline http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11507.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 07, 2003 at 22:08:36 PT
jasons
I think we all are tired of the different issues but this is the way it is in America and this is what we have to deal with unfortunately. 
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Comment #5 posted by jasons on April 07, 2003 at 21:48:48 PT:
State vs. Federal Laws
I'm a 21-year-old parent of two and regularly use marijuana in a safe and responsible manner, whether it's legal by state, federal, or any other law because of my own personal values and beliefs, which is what I thought our country's cornerstone was. I don't know- I am very tired of hearing all this crap in the headlines about how this state or that state MAY be passing laws in favor of marijuana use in some form or another. I believe it needs to be either legal all across the board, or completely illegal...but definitely based on the scientific evidence and facts gathered over the years, and not on a governments' view on the issue and none other.
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Comment #4 posted by afterburner on April 07, 2003 at 13:22:22 PT:
Does the DEA Have Any Integrity?
"DEA does not have the statutory authority to authorize anyone to possess" marijuana, spokesman Will Glaspy said. "Additionally, there is nothing that DEA could provide to Mr. Rosenfeld that would allow him to override state laws."Unless Mr. Rosenfield is in California or one of the other states that allows medical cannabis. The Compassionate Use Act of the great State of California allows medical cannabis users to possess and cultivate medical cannabis, but then the DEA says, "Federal law trumps state law."federal law trumps state law. -Trust-Buster -- Ashcroft Kicks The Dog Once Again http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/15/thread15461.shtml While the DEA task force investigates larger, more serious drug cases, Meyer said the agency would take on marijuana cases involving fewer than the 800- to 1,000-plant range the DEA has used as a threshold. The DEA has a policy of not going after drug users, he said."There's no one determinant factor. We have an advantage in that we don't have to worry about" the state law, he said.-Medical Pot Growers Find No Refuge from Feds http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/15/thread15490.shtmlBut DEA officials said federal law still trumps the local ordinance. -Santa Cruz Council Votes To Deputize MMJ Growers http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/14/thread14950.shtml So, which is it DEA: does federal law trump state and local laws, or does state law trump federal law? You can't have it both ways without being seen as two-faced weasels with absolutely no integrity whatsoever!Mr. Rosenthal, I am happy that you find relief from your awful suffering from your cannabis medicine. Mr. Rosenthal and other medical cannabis users would not have their medicine without the tireless efforts of so-called "recreational" cannabis users who have been fighting for safe access, sensible laws, and rescheduling of cannabis to allow medical use for years. Most medical cannabis users, outside of the fortunate few who were granted the privilege of access to medical cannabis through the federal "compassionate use" program, have first tried medical cannabis provided by "recreational" users. We cannabis policy advocates understand why you cannot be seen to be defending "recreational," code word for "indiscriminate," use of cannabis, but in reality there is no split. We are all brothers and sisters working for healing of mind, body, spirit, nation, and world. Selah.ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on April 07, 2003 at 03:26:21 PT
Prison States of America
So much for freedom...U.S. Prison Population Surpasses 2 Million!http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2516543
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Comment #2 posted by mayan on April 07, 2003 at 03:02:24 PT
Living Proof
"For the first 10 years, he bought pot wherever he could. Then, Rosenfeld become one of 13 people nationwide supplied marijuana by the federal government in the 1980s. He was the second one approved, in 1982."You're right, Duzt. The government probably had no idea that the majority of people it supplied cannabis to would still be alive in 2003! What a hugh embarrassment for the government. These survivors are living proof of the medicinal efficacy of cannabis!The way out is the way in... SEC SECRET PROBE OF STOCK DEALINGS BEFORE 9/11: 
http://tbrnews.org/Archives/a048.htmVoices of 9/11 Calls For Answers:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0304/S00059.htmA 9/11 Victim Asks For Answers:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0304/S00045.htmComplete Timeline Presentation To 9/11 Presser
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0304/S00029.htmGroup Pledges to Monitor 9/11 Government Commission:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0304/S00027.htmTop 11 Questions/Talking Points For 9/11 Commission:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0303/S00255.htm9/11 Prior knowledge/Government Involvement Archive:
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledge
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Comment #1 posted by Duzt on April 07, 2003 at 00:40:23 PT
override state laws??
The Florida police say that state law supercedes federal law when it's conveniant and now the DEA has the nerve to say that they don't have a permit to give him because it would override state laws???? So can any of the other participants who live in California where it isn't against state laws get some form of ID showing they are part of the program? Of course not, they are waiting for the people on that program to die and there wont be any record of it, the government must hate that program. Especially when they say cannabis has no medical value, yet they grow it and supply it as medicine. What a stupid hypocrisy we live in in this country.
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