I like cookies . . .

Medicinal cookie costs man cash, probation
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Rarely has half a cookie cost a man so much.

San Francisco artist Kinman Chan was sentenced on Tuesday to three to five years of probation, plus payment of $6,804 in restitution, for interfering with a flight crew after munching a double dose of medical marijuana cookies.

Mr. Chan, now 32, was responsible for a US Airways pilot's decision to divert his Philadelphia-to-San Francisco flight to Pittsburgh International Airport on Jan. 31, 2010, Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Picking told U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond.

Initially unusually cheery upon boarding the plane, he eventually went to the lavatory and started shouting, screaming and throwing things, Ms. Picking said. When he emerged, partially unclothed, he tried to elbow flight attendant Lorin Gorman, who used her martial arts training to subdue him. Mr. Chan was then placed, with hands bound, between two burly passengers while the pilot landed.

Once grounded, Mr. Chan told FBI agents that he is prescribed marijuana for carpal tunnel syndrome. He takes it in cookies, and his usual dose is half of a cookie. But in Philadelphia, he ate an entire cookie.

His luggage was lost, so no uneaten cookies were entered into evidence.

"I made some mistakes and am really sorry for it," Mr. Chan told Judge Diamond, as he pleaded guilty and was promptly sentenced.

The judge called it "an aberrant instance induced by an overdosing on a prescription" that is illegal in Pennsylvania but allowed in California. He noted that Mr. Chan has no other criminal record and is employed, sometimes working for film companies. Mr. Chan was sentenced to probation for five years, but that drops to three years if he pays US Airways $6,804 in restitution to make up for the cost of diverting the flight.