Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
I just signed a new lease on an apartment. Is it legal for my landlord to tell me I can't light up a celebratory joint?
You might have to blow some smoke up to the marijuana gods for help on this one; ultimately, it all comes down to the mercy (or chill) of your building owner.
Given pot's uneven legal status across the country, this issue varies widely from state to state. Only four states have legalized marijuana; a handful of others allow for medical usage, have decriminalized possession, or both. (See the below map from the Marijuana Policy Project.) Most states follow the federal law, under which weed is outlawed.
However, legal status is only one level of the debate: many states also protect the right of property owners to set restrictions on tenants' behavior, which sometimes comes into conflict with their particular state's laws around the status of the drug.
If marijuana is part of the legal calculus, it never fails to complicate things, says Allen St. Pierre, the CEO of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). St. Pierre has been at NORML for 25 years; though some laws have changed during that time, the country's legal system is a long way from working out a consistent stance toward the drug. "We're just now starting to see this prohibition law yarn ball unravel," St. Pierre says.
The most straightforward legal precedent to whether tenants can smoke weed in rented apartments is the building owner's stance on smoking tobacco. Landlords frequently impose tobacco restrictions, citing lingering smells, damages from smoke, or fires. Marijuana smoke poses the same set of concerns; as such, tobacco and pot are often lumped together under laws forbidding smoking indoors, says Judd Golden, a member of the state board of directors for Colorado NORML.
In Colorado, a recent case upheld landlords' right to ban tobacco smoking, and tobacco and marijuana are treated the same under the states' Clean Indoor Air Act. Every apartment lease, Golden adds, includes a "quiet enjoyment" clause, guaranteeing tenants the right to a nuisance-free existence in their dwelling. If someone in a building objects to the smell of marijuana smoke, a landlord could forbid the substance out of a duty to keep the peace, Golden says. When it comes to tobacco usage, "the courts give deference to the nonsmokers' right to clean air," St. Pierre says. Even in states renowned for their love of lighting up, like Colorado, smoking on rented property is still a conflicted issue.
It's also, for pot enthusiasts, an exercise in frustration. Speaking to Bloomberg, the Marijuana Policy Project senior legislative analyst Chris Lindsay said:
"Even in legalization states, you can't smoke in public, they don't allow the marijuana equivalent of a bar, and now [your] landlord says you can't smoke at home either. You can end up in a situation where it's legal, but you can't smoke anywhere."
The matter becomes more complicated still when taking into account the difference between recreational and medicinal marijuana use. Tenants don't really have a leg to stand on when pushing back against landlords who've forbidden them to smoke recreationally, says Golden. Even in the few states where that is legal, as the Colorado case shows, the air quality argument wins out.
But one would be forgiven for assuming that in the 21 states where medical marijuana usage is legal, concerns over the tenant's health would grant their argument some more weight. Not so. Under the Fair Housing Act, building owners are obligated to accommodate the needs of disabled tenants, including access to medication. But that protection clause excludes the use of "controlled substances"-those that are federally outlawed-marijuana among them. So even if marijuana is legal at the state level, the landlords can choose to defer to federal law.
Alternative delivery methods, such as vaping or edibles, are less fraught because they're less detectable-and in the case of edibles, less likely to damage property, making them less threatening to landlords. In legalization or medical-marijuana states, they're more likely to fly without scrutiny, Golden says. But for advocacy organizations like NORML, it's an incomplete victory; it's still a restriction on a legal activity, Golden adds.
The landscape around marijuana usage is constantly shifting-Golden says he would not be surprised if this debate looks very different a year from now. But for the time being, what the landlord says, goes.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Can My Landlord Forbid Me From Smoking Pot In My Apartment?
Author: Eillie Anzilotti
Contact: CityLab
Photo Credit: Marijuana Policy Project
Website: CityLab
You might have to blow some smoke up to the marijuana gods for help on this one; ultimately, it all comes down to the mercy (or chill) of your building owner.
Given pot's uneven legal status across the country, this issue varies widely from state to state. Only four states have legalized marijuana; a handful of others allow for medical usage, have decriminalized possession, or both. (See the below map from the Marijuana Policy Project.) Most states follow the federal law, under which weed is outlawed.
However, legal status is only one level of the debate: many states also protect the right of property owners to set restrictions on tenants' behavior, which sometimes comes into conflict with their particular state's laws around the status of the drug.
If marijuana is part of the legal calculus, it never fails to complicate things, says Allen St. Pierre, the CEO of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). St. Pierre has been at NORML for 25 years; though some laws have changed during that time, the country's legal system is a long way from working out a consistent stance toward the drug. "We're just now starting to see this prohibition law yarn ball unravel," St. Pierre says.
The most straightforward legal precedent to whether tenants can smoke weed in rented apartments is the building owner's stance on smoking tobacco. Landlords frequently impose tobacco restrictions, citing lingering smells, damages from smoke, or fires. Marijuana smoke poses the same set of concerns; as such, tobacco and pot are often lumped together under laws forbidding smoking indoors, says Judd Golden, a member of the state board of directors for Colorado NORML.
In Colorado, a recent case upheld landlords' right to ban tobacco smoking, and tobacco and marijuana are treated the same under the states' Clean Indoor Air Act. Every apartment lease, Golden adds, includes a "quiet enjoyment" clause, guaranteeing tenants the right to a nuisance-free existence in their dwelling. If someone in a building objects to the smell of marijuana smoke, a landlord could forbid the substance out of a duty to keep the peace, Golden says. When it comes to tobacco usage, "the courts give deference to the nonsmokers' right to clean air," St. Pierre says. Even in states renowned for their love of lighting up, like Colorado, smoking on rented property is still a conflicted issue.
It's also, for pot enthusiasts, an exercise in frustration. Speaking to Bloomberg, the Marijuana Policy Project senior legislative analyst Chris Lindsay said:
"Even in legalization states, you can't smoke in public, they don't allow the marijuana equivalent of a bar, and now [your] landlord says you can't smoke at home either. You can end up in a situation where it's legal, but you can't smoke anywhere."
The matter becomes more complicated still when taking into account the difference between recreational and medicinal marijuana use. Tenants don't really have a leg to stand on when pushing back against landlords who've forbidden them to smoke recreationally, says Golden. Even in the few states where that is legal, as the Colorado case shows, the air quality argument wins out.
But one would be forgiven for assuming that in the 21 states where medical marijuana usage is legal, concerns over the tenant's health would grant their argument some more weight. Not so. Under the Fair Housing Act, building owners are obligated to accommodate the needs of disabled tenants, including access to medication. But that protection clause excludes the use of "controlled substances"-those that are federally outlawed-marijuana among them. So even if marijuana is legal at the state level, the landlords can choose to defer to federal law.
Alternative delivery methods, such as vaping or edibles, are less fraught because they're less detectable-and in the case of edibles, less likely to damage property, making them less threatening to landlords. In legalization or medical-marijuana states, they're more likely to fly without scrutiny, Golden says. But for advocacy organizations like NORML, it's an incomplete victory; it's still a restriction on a legal activity, Golden adds.
The landscape around marijuana usage is constantly shifting-Golden says he would not be surprised if this debate looks very different a year from now. But for the time being, what the landlord says, goes.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Can My Landlord Forbid Me From Smoking Pot In My Apartment?
Author: Eillie Anzilotti
Contact: CityLab
Photo Credit: Marijuana Policy Project
Website: CityLab
