A recent British Airways flight from London to Amsterdam was grounded and delayed for several hours after “a strong smell of cannabis” was detected on board the plane. The regular pre-take-off flight procedures were interrupted when concerned cabin crew members became aware of the odour emanating somewhere onboard.
3 hour delay because of the smell of weed https://t.co/8sTmZxJ7VS pic.twitter.com/jJsTcU8kk7
— Drewsif Gilchrist (@DrewIsSharing) June 28, 2024
Following a short delay, a Dutch member of the cabin crew explained over the PA that the delay was due to “a strong smell of cannabis coming into the flight” going on to say “If there’s anybody that smells cannabis or has smoked it or been around it please come forward and just be completely honest with it.”
Armed police boarded the plane after several private prescription patients indicated they had their lawfully prescribed medication with them in their hand luggage. In a video posted to his Instagram page, cannabis YouTuber Drew Gilchrist alleges that one of the machine gun-clad officers said “Have you guys not heard about second-hand smoke? If the pilot smells it they could be getting high.”
British airways just almost refused to take off because they could smell weed, and the police started saying that the pilots could get high off the smell.
— Drewsif Gilchrist (@DrewIsSharing) June 28, 2024
The flight was allowed to continue on its way after the officers spoke with the CEO of London-based cannabis clinic Mamedica Jon Robson and they were informed about the lawful nature of the products and the patient’s rights to possess them lawfully.
Mamedica further commented on ‘I’m Just Bait’s post reporting the incident saying “It’s concerning that the Metropolitan Police are unaware of the law, but the idea that the smell of cannabis could intoxicate the pilot is simply ridiculous.”
Despite all of the patients having the correct documentation to lawfully fly with their privately prescribed medications in their hand luggage, the overly dramatic interaction resulted in their cannabis being seized by the MET Police for it to be transported to their final destination in the plane’s cargo hold.
The confiscated medications came off the flight on the baggage carousel with the regular cargo from the plane’s hold, leaving the Schedule Two drugs unsupervised and vulnerable to tampering or theft. Luckily, once again Drew Gilchrist was there to document this abject failure of duty and gross violation of their rights under the Equality Act 2010.
Bruh @British_Airways is actually a joke https://t.co/wL4V0miAOE pic.twitter.com/kxfmLqDZFb
— Drewsif Gilchrist (@DrewIsSharing) June 28, 2024
This isn’t the first time a flight from London has had issues making its destination on time due to the odour of cannabis. a 2016 British Airways flight to Crete made an unscheduled return to Gatwick after ‘an overpowering smell similar to that of cannabis filled the cabin.’ However, it is the first time such an event has occurred since the 2018 amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.
Police bias against drug users is not new, but this incident highlights a shocking degree of ignorance. An uninformed police officer chastising legal cannabis patients for a non-existent “contact high” is absurd.
To clarify, if none of the patients was actively vaping (lawful) or combusting (unlawful) their medication in the closed-loop air system of the cabin then the smell will have been purely from the Volatile Sulphur Compounds (VSCs) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) present in cannabis – so there’s no scientific basis for the pilot being impaired by stored cannabis.
There is a certain irony in the fact that many of the other passengers onboard that flight will have been intending to ‘lawfully’ consume cannabis once they arrived in Amsterdam – further highlighting the absurdity of it all.
Despite legal medical cannabis in the UK since 2018, considerable ignorance and prejudice persist in authoritative institutions. This outdated ‘reefer madness’ mentality persists and could worsen due to the UK’s inequitable cannabis laws.
The current private healthcare model, with its inherent inequalities, fails to address the core issue of cannabis criminalisation.
#TimeToDeschedule
