Bahamas: User Must Leave Pot at Home |
Posted by CN Staff on June 09, 2006 at 10:03:15 PT By Melissa Sanchez Source: Miami Herald Florida -- Irvin Rosenfeld hesitated when his company rewarded him with a vacation this weekend to the Bahamas. Before accepting, the stockbroker from Lauderhill wanted to clear his medical prescription with the Bahamian government. But he never got the official OK because his medicine is illegal there. The drug he uses? Marijuana. ''It's bad enough to be singled out for using cannabis,'' said Rosenfeld, 53, who lights up to relieve his rare and painful bone and muscle condition. He is one of only five people in the country who receive medicinal marijuana from the federal government to treat muscle and bone disorders such as multiple sclorosis and glaucoma. ''I try to be like everybody else,'' he said. ``That means if your boss invites you on a trip because you win a contest, you get to do that. That's being one of the gang.'' Weeks ago Rosenfeld contacted Bahamian health officials, who said he might be granted a waiver if his doctor faxed a letter stating his condition and the required medication. So he accepted his company's reward, which he earned for opening the most new accounts in Newbridge Securities Corporation branch in Fort Lauderdale. His doctor complied, but Rosenfeld's request wasn't granted. ''It's just a little awkward for a foreigner to come here and take a medicine that our own people can't use,'' said Patricia Rodgers, permanent secretary of the Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ``His country might permit it but ours doesn't.'' She said she was still looking into the matter on Thursday afternoon but doubted she could grant Rosenfeld a waiver. Rosenfeld said he never would have accepted the trip if he knew he couldn't take his medicine. Still, he plans to board the ship to the Bahamas this morning with his wife, Debbie. They'll return Sunday night. That will make this weekend the longest he's gone without lighting up in more than 30 years. He said Canada has also denied him a cannabis waiver twice before. ''Hopefully it's not going to make the weekend a bad weekend for his health,'' his wife said. ''It's very frustrating to try to have a normal life and to have it thrown in your face and not have people understand and accept, to always be explaining situations to people. Why should you need permission to take your medicine?'' she added. He's used government-provided marijuana through a now-defunct federal program since November 1982. Before that, he had his own stash. Rosenfeld, a national poster boy for legalizing medicinal marijuana, took on the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2003 after Delta agents refused to let him board a flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Washington, D.C. In 2004, the DOT found that Rosenfeld should have been allowed to board that flight. On a normal day, Rosenfeld smokes between 10 to 12 joints. This weekend, instead of pot, he'll take over-the-counter Aleve, Flexeril for muscle spasm relief, Percocet to kill the pain, and Vioxx to reduce inflammation. ''With the cannabis normally I'll fill a prescription for 20 pills [of Vioxx] and it will last me a year a and half,'' he said. Without his regular medicine, Rosenfeld will suffer greater pain and inflammation, which might make it difficult to walk and lead to bleeding in his muscles from bone spurs, one of his former doctors said. Rosenfeld's boss said he won the trip because he's a talented and dedicated stockbroker. About 40 other stockbrokers from the firm, where more than 300 brokers work, were also picked to go. ''I wish I had many more like him,'' said Phillip Semenick, the Fort Lauderdale branch manager of Newbridge Securities. ``He's a very good worker as far as how he treats his clients.'' Note: Man with prescription for pot denied permission by Bahamian government to take his stash on a trip to the islands sponsored by his company. Source: Miami Herald (FL) CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
Comment #21 posted by mayan on June 12, 2006 at 03:36:59 PT |
I have read about it but haven't seen it yet. It's great that the BBC ran it! [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #20 posted by whig on June 11, 2006 at 22:54:36 PT |
I'm wondering if you've seen this film and what you think of it? Pretty mainstream (it was apparently on BBC before the London bombings) but seems to be a decent alternative viewpoint nonetheless. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #19 posted by ekim on June 10, 2006 at 07:47:18 PT |
Stamp out Prohibition save our youth. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #18 posted by Hope on June 10, 2006 at 06:00:31 PT |
I have always worried that they might just try to kill the patients off and blame it on cannabis. It's worried me since I've known about it. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #17 posted by Hope on June 10, 2006 at 05:58:13 PT |
with one of them. I figure the others are pretty much like his. But I could have misunderstood something.
[ Post Comment ] |
Comment #16 posted by Hope on June 10, 2006 at 05:56:05 PT |
"Why should he have been forced to agree to that?" It's the Gub'mint. Why not? They aren't allowed to use a pipe either. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #15 posted by charmed quark on June 10, 2006 at 04:47:50 PT |
It's a wonder that that government dope hasn't killed him. I guess it just reinforces the fact that THC counteracts lung cancer. But, boy, you'd think he'd have a hacking cough from all that smoke. If he was allowed to use medicinal cannabis as grown in California he could probably get by with a joint or less a day. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #14 posted by runderwo on June 09, 2006 at 23:17:51 PT |
I was laughing out loud at the last page. Too bad it's no fairy tale. What a sick world we live in. http://www.reason.com/0605/bagge.shtml [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #13 posted by whig on June 09, 2006 at 21:08:57 PT |
Why should he have been forced to agree to that? I mean, apart from the criminal penalties that apply to everyone, he shouldn't be subjected to a further punishment of being deprived of his medicine. That's like a death sentence. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #12 posted by Hope on June 09, 2006 at 21:04:10 PT |
That's funny. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #11 posted by Hope on June 09, 2006 at 21:03:23 PT |
I'm pretty sure he was forced to agree to only use the goverment supplied pot and if he should use someone elses or share...he would lose his place in the program. Seems like I heard that somewhere. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 09, 2006 at 19:51:20 PT |
Thank you for the link. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #9 posted by ekim on June 09, 2006 at 19:45:18 PT |
www.saferniles.org [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #8 posted by ekim on June 09, 2006 at 19:42:26 PT |
ck out www.saferniles.org to see what is going on in Niles MI. www.saferniles.org [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #7 posted by FoM on June 09, 2006 at 16:58:32 PT |
http://www.heartofgoldmovie.com/indexflash.html [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #6 posted by mayan on June 09, 2006 at 16:29:44 PT |
I'm sure some decent human being will share some of their herb with Irv. What a shame that such a harmless, beneficial plant is so demonized. I long for a day when the world becomes sane. THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN... Enough about Ann Coulter: Answer the Jersey Girls questions about 9/11! http://tinyurl.com/ruv33 Strategy for the 9/11 Truth Movement: http://www.communitycurrency.org/plenary.html Media hide truth: 9/11 was inside job: http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/guest/index.php?ntid=83698 [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #5 posted by Dankhank on June 09, 2006 at 13:06:17 PT |
I'm sure you're right, I spend little time studying Carribean cannabis production, and speak only from long-ago experience. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #4 posted by rchandar on June 09, 2006 at 11:47:18 PT:
|
...the Caribbean islands are inundated with marijuana cultivation, and I'm sure the Bahamas is no exception. Frequently, when the government raids villages in the hills (of islands that do have hills, like Trinidad), they destroy upwards of half a million plants, and it's still not the entire crop for the season. I don't know how much is grown in the Bahamas, there probably is some because many of the islands are small and remote from government control. And the Bahamas is a big smuggling route into Florida... ...I don't know if you remember the episode of Miami Vice where Glenn Frey is a poolside bartender in the Bahamas musing to Crockett and Tubbs about how great "Caribbean grass" is, but being from Miami, it's legend. I'm sure some of what they've got is good. --rchandar [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #3 posted by Dankhank on June 09, 2006 at 11:23:21 PT |
found the email adds http://mfabahamas.org/mfa-contacts.html [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #2 posted by Dankhank on June 09, 2006 at 11:18:51 PT |
http://mfabahamas.org/ is where these inimical people lurk. Try to email them, won't work, they want no input. Likely they are protecting their indigenious black market. Some staff at the various hotels will offer reefer. What's Bahamian Cannabis like? Probably Mexican, but must be some SAmerican, too. The stuff offered in '94 to tourists likely would remind Irvin of the gubmint pot he already gets. [ Post Comment ] |
Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 09, 2006 at 11:01:33 PT |
What would we do without you. [ Post Comment ] |
Post Comment | |