(Bloomberg) – Legalized marijuana has left apartment landlords in a haze (of confusion).
In recent years, tenant demand for smoke-free living environments has led property managers to extend bans on cigarette smoking to cover marijuana. But some landlords worry that forbidding the use of medical marijuana might put them on the wrong side of fair housing law.
The uncertainty derives from a tension between state laws legalizing marijuana and federal rules that outlaw the substance. A 2011 memo from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development instructed local housing authorities to reject medical marijuana users applying for federally subsidized housing, because federal law defines marijuana as a Schedule I drug. But state laws intended to prevent landlords from discriminating against renters on the basis of a disability could offer tenants a greater measure of protection.
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