COACH's Pop Quiz!

Q: A private—that is, non-federally funded—landlord in California, which has legalized both medical and recreational use marijuana, catches two tenants smoking pot in the clubhouse in violation of the community’s anti-drug use policy. Tenant A has a valid prescription from a physician to use marijuana to treat his PTSD; Tenant B is just a casual user. With both medical and recreational marijuana legal in the state, which, if any, tenant(s) can the landlord evict for violating the community’s anti-drug policy?

a.         Tenant A

b.         Tenant B

c.          Both

d.         Neither

Correct answer: c

Just because your state has passed marijuana legalization legislation doesn’t mean tenants can use the product whenever and wherever they want. Landlords may still adopt restrictions, including the requirement that tenants use marijuana only within their own apartments and not in common areas. Since both tenants in this scenario have run afoul of this rule, you have grounds to evict both. So, c. is the right answer.

Wrong answers explained:

a. is wrong because state medical marijuana laws legalize the product but allow for restrictions on consumption in public, including in the clubhouse of an apartment community.

b. is wrong for the same reason that a. is wrong plus the fact that a landlord’s duty to make reasonable accommodations for legal marijuana use applies only to medical and not to recreational marijuana use.

For 11 rules for handling requests for medical marijuana use, see our August lesson, “Must You Make Reasonable Accommodations for Legalized Medical Marijuana?”, available to premium subscribers here.