Legal perspectives on Santa Rosa renters' medical marijuana rights
One Tuesday at the Sonoma Superior Court's unlawful detainer calendar in Santa Rosa, I spoke briefly with a couple who were contesting their eviction based on their medical marijuana cards. Their argument was that they couldn't be evicted for having (growing) drugs on the premises because of California's med-mar cards.
Based on the current state of California law, that's pretty much a fantasy. The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a lengthy piece on the question on the question and concluded that unlike Arizona's new law, California law does not give tenants a clear right to smoke and grow in a rental unit.
The Arizona law states:
No school or landlord may refuse to enroll or lease to and may not otherwise penalize a person solely for his status as a cardholder, unless failing to do so would cause the school or landlord to lose a monetary or licensing related benefit under federal law or regulations.
Since Prop 19 failed -- and its dubious that even Prop. 9 would have allowed tenants to grow pot with impunity, as I wrote here - tenants are not in a great position to make that claim.
Perhaps tenants could challenge a drug-use eviction as discriminatory, but it would be an "uphill battle," says Alex Kreit, a law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
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