Cruising Altitude is a weekly column about air travel. Have a suggestion for a future topic? Fill out the form or email me at the address at the bottom of this page.
Brittney Griner is perhaps the most famous person to encounter an issue traveling with prescription medicine in recent memory.
The WNBA star was arrested in Russia in 2022 on drug possession charges after border agents found vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis in her luggage. Griner was ultimately sentenced to prison in Russia and served 10 months before becoming part of a prisoner exchange deal.
Griner acknowledged that she had been prescribed medical cannabis for off-season pain management, but said it was never her intention to bring banned substances into Russia.
Since then, she’s become active in advocating for better education around traveling with regulated prescriptions, and recently co-founded Zennjet, a company that offers legal assistance and travel insurance for medical cannabis users.
