Narrative:

During boarding a male passenger (pax) came forward asking to use the lav. I informed him that it was in use by one of the pilots; and asked if he could take his seat so I could do my count and I'd let him know as soon as it was open. He snapped only if you want a wet spot on your seat. I noticed that he had a joint or something similar hanging out of his hat; and he smelled strongly of weed. I did my count and as I reached his seat at row 12; the lav became available. I told him it was open; and went back to the B flight attendant (flight attendant) and informed them of my interactions; and flight attendant B told me he had a similar interaction. I told him I thought pax appeared to be under the influence of drugs. I went forward and filled in the captain (ca); and asked the gate agent if she had any similar interactions with pax. She said no; he went through tsa; and she had spoken to him a few times; and didn't know why I was concerned. Flight attendant B came forward and we both talked with the ca; who got out of his seat and stood by the male pax to observe him. Flight attendant B was comfortable and said he was ok if pax stayed on board; ca agreed. I was on the fence leaning towards removal. I didn't know if the altitude would affect him being under the influence of weed; like it would if he had been under the influence of alcohol. Ca reassured me it would not affect him like that. We all agreed he could stay. We closed the door; and did our safety demo. As I was checking compliance; I noticed same pax was not buckled; I asked him now three different times; and his phone was still not in airplane mode. We were on taxi. I went back to flight attendant B; and said it's now your turn to try to get him to comply with the seatbelt and phone. Flight attendant B went up to the pax and asked if he was buckled and if phone was in airplane mode. I am not sure of the exact conversation as I was in the galley watching; and waiting. All of the sudden the first officer made his 'fas prepare the cabin' announcement and flight attendant B came to the back and said we are returning the gate. He is off. He filled me in that pax was not complying and was starting to argue; and informed flight attendant B that he had 'pre-funked' with weed before the flight. We called the flight deck and told them to return to gate; asked for pax to be removed; and asked for law enforcement officers (leo) to meet us. We got to the gate; and two leos and an agent came onboard. We filled them in; and told leo his seat number. Leo told him he was off; and told him to gather his stuff. They came forward; leo asked where we flew in from; before I could respond pax said nowhere. After she got him off; she asked how much weed he had on him; he told her he had his medical card and could carry as much as he wanted. As we were talking to other leo; the lady sitting next to male pax brought up his left-behind joint; she gave it to leo. We told the leo that he wouldn't comply; and that he was arguing with us. He said ok. We also told the [supervisor] about the gate agent and how we had told her about our concerns and how she didn't understand why we were concerned. We left after that with no other problems. Flight attendant B apologized to me for not being more supportive.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Flight Attendant reported returning to the gate to remove a disruptive passenger who was suspected of smoking marijuana.

Narrative: During boarding a male passenger (pax) came forward asking to use the lav. I informed him that it was in use by one of the pilots; and asked if he could take his seat so I could do my count and I'd let him know as soon as it was open. He snapped only if you want a wet spot on your seat. I noticed that he had a joint or something similar hanging out of his hat; and he smelled strongly of weed. I did my count and as I reached his seat at row 12; the lav became available. I told him it was open; and went back to the B Flight Attendant (FA) and informed them of my interactions; and FA B told me he had a similar interaction. I told him I thought pax appeared to be under the influence of drugs. I went forward and filled in the Captain (CA); and asked the gate agent if she had any similar interactions with pax. She said no; he went through TSA; and she had spoken to him a few times; and didn't know why I was concerned. FA B came forward and we both talked with the CA; who got out of his seat and stood by the male pax to observe him. FA B was comfortable and said he was ok if pax stayed on board; CA agreed. I was on the fence leaning towards removal. I didn't know if the altitude would affect him being under the influence of weed; like it would if he had been under the influence of alcohol. CA reassured me it would not affect him like that. We all agreed he could stay. We closed the door; and did our safety demo. As I was checking compliance; I noticed same pax was not buckled; I asked him now three different times; and his phone was still not in airplane mode. We were on taxi. I went back to FA B; and said it's now your turn to try to get him to comply with the seatbelt and phone. FA B went up to the pax and asked if he was buckled and if phone was in airplane mode. I am not sure of the exact conversation as I was in the galley watching; and waiting. All of the sudden the First Officer made his 'FAs prepare the cabin' announcement and FA B came to the back and said we are returning the gate. He is off. He filled me in that pax was not complying and was starting to argue; and informed FA B that he had 'pre-funked' with weed before the flight. We called the flight deck and told them to return to gate; asked for pax to be removed; and asked for Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) to meet us. We got to the gate; and two LEOs and an agent came onboard. We filled them in; and told LEO his seat number. LEO told him he was off; and told him to gather his stuff. They came forward; LEO asked where we flew in from; before I could respond pax said nowhere. After she got him off; she asked how much weed he had on him; he told her he had his medical card and could carry as much as he wanted. As we were talking to other LEO; the lady sitting next to male pax brought up his left-behind joint; she gave it to LEO. We told the LEO that he wouldn't comply; and that he was arguing with us. He said ok. We also told the [supervisor] about the gate agent and how we had told her about our concerns and how she didn't understand why we were concerned. We left after that with no other problems. FA B apologized to me for not being more supportive.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.