Michael Korchak, 25, was trying to board
a flight from Halifax to Burlington, Ontario last week to get home home
for Christmas. Korchak, who suffered an injury while on duty and is in
the process of receiving a medical discharge, has a medical marijuana
prescription to treat his chronic pain.
He arrived at the airport three hours
early with his prescription, which was OK'd by the RCMP and the Canadian
Airport Transport Authority, but evidently that wasn't good enough for
Air Canada. Airline attendants refused to let him on board unless he
chucked out his $100-worth of medicine.
Korchak told the Toronto Sun
the situation worsened when he tried to reason with staff—he was told
he was being difficult and that he was at risk of being kicked out of
the airport by security.
"They were incredibly rigid and not at
all discreet. All of this happened at the gate. More Air Canada
employees kept showing up. By the end, there was a crowd of 10 to 12 of
them. They're staring, they're whispering. Eventually, I'm told if I
don't drop the issue they're going to have security remove me from the
airport."
Korchak said he opted to fly Porter,
which gave him no issues. As of Wednesday he still waiting on a refund
for his flight from Air Canada.
Air Canada has since issued an
apology and said it's updated its policies to allow for buds, as
opposed to just cannabis in pill form. But Korchak has filed a complaint
with Transport Canada, saying the experience was "humiliating."
"Clearly, the stigma (around
marijuana) is still there. I don't think if I was a diabetic with
insulin I would have been treated the same way." Read More Here
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