LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – A former bartender at Walt Disney World says she was fired over CBD oil she bought at a grocery store and used for foot pain.
Kathy Talafous said of her firing from Disney, “It’s pretty much destroyed my life.”
Kathy loves Disney. She visited all the time with her family and had worked, as a bartender here for about a year.
That changed, in April when she says she came, on her own time, and brought a small container of CBD oil. “I bought this over the counter at Lucky’s,” Kathy said. “And I didn’t do anything wrong, I went into a store, I bought it. I paid $50 for it.”
She uses it to deal with foot pain and says it was the type with virtually no THC. It won’t get you high.
But at Epcot’s gate, she says security stopped her and found the CBD balm, in her purse. “They said, ‘You can’t have this, it’s illegal.’ I said, ‘What do you mean it’s illegal,’”
That was April 12. Three days later, a South Carolina grandmother was arrested for bringing CBD oil to Magic Kingdom.
The state attorney soon dropped that case and the woman said she planned to sue Disney and the sheriff’s office.
Kathy shared some documents, including one from the sheriff, which says her oil was not tested. But the Disney incident reports claim it did test positive for THC.
She was suspended, the next Monday when she came to work and just found out this week that she was fired.
She says she’s out of money and all she wants is her job back. “Now here I am losing my job because of something I bought at a supermarket.”
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