Rental Crunch: Is the smell of medicinal marijuana OK, but not party pot?

Rental Crunch: Is the smell of medicinal marijuana OK, but not party pot?

The pungent smell of marijuana has always been controversial among apartment dwellers, but the advent of lawfully provided medical marijuana has added a whole new dimension to the debate.Landlords and tenants may think it’s OK to require recreational users to step outside when the urge strikes, but what about medical users taking the drug for health and comfort?The fact that the government approves medical marijuana for painful conditions such as leukemia and chronic fatigue syndrome puts a new spin on the question.In a poll commissioned by The Province in partnership with Landlord B.C. and conducted by the Mustel Group, 83 per cent of landlords in the province said tenants should find other locations to use medicinal marijuana. By comparison, 47 per cent of renters say it’s landlords who should accommodate usage.Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang says the answer is clearcut in his mind.“It is a medicine. It is considered a medical treatment,” he says. “Can you rightfully deny somebody their treatment for pain?”Jang says the practical way forward is to mitigate second-hand smoke through the use of air filters.“The important thing is to make sure it doesn’t affect others,” he says.The question becomes cloudy in real life, however, because there is often no way of telling whether the unpleasant odor wafting under the door is coming from partygoers or cancer victims.Kathryn Roberts, who lives in co-op housing in Vancouver, says the smoke “seems to have the ability” to go through walls following the path of electrical wires.“Why does my apartment have to smell like this? It’s like something’s died. Why do your rights trump my rights?” she asks.“I am not a marijuana smoker and I don’t believe that it should be ‘medicalized,’” she says. “Buildings should have non-smoking policies.”source: http://www.theprovince.com/health/Rental+Crunch+smell+medicinal+marijuana+party/10444149/story.html

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