Landlords in Halifax are putting their tenants on notice: growing and smoking cannabis inside will be prohibited even after legalization.
The announcements have some medicinal cannabis patients worried they won’t be able to find an affordable place to live in the city.
“A lot of us exist on little-to-no income. A lot of us are also smokers,” says Samantha Clattenburg, a cannabis patient living with chronic illness. “We just want to have reasonable access to our medication and safe, affordable housing.”
Denied for disability benefits twice, Clattenburg says limited mobility associated with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease has prevented her from keeping a job. She hasn’t been able to work full-time in eight years, but she says because of cannabis she’s able to write a blog and host an online radio show from her home.
Her current landlord in Cape Breton allows her to medicate at home, but she’s planning to move to Halifax, where her partner recently found a job. Unfortunately for Clattenburg, several major rental companies in Halifax have banned cannabis in their buildings.
Killam Properties, which owns and operates 60 apartment buildings in HRM, released a notice last week to tenants saying their properties will become “marijuana smoke-free and cultivation-free” effective December 1. Others, like Southwest Properties, gave similar notice to tenants over the past several months.
Killam didn’t respond to repeated attempts to confirm how many properties received the notice.
Last Tuesday council passed a motion to reconsider tobacco’s place in HRM’s new nuisance bylaws, which ban smoking on municipal property, except in designated areas. In a blog post, councillor Sam Austin listed several reasons for proposing the motion, including one of fairness.
“The equity piece is that many apartment buildings are nonsmoking which means that a sidewalk ban effectively makes it impossible for many who don’t own private space to legally smoke,” he wrote.
But the staff report requested by Austin will only look at tobacco, not medicinal marijuana.
Clattenburg, who uses a cane to get around, says on rainy days her osteoarthritis prevents her from being able to use designated smoking areas. Depending on the weather, some days she can barely walk.
She also doesn’t have the option of owning private property.
“When you get chronically ill and you have to leave work, one of the things that end up getting destroyed is your credit. A lot of us don’t have the credit or the funds to purchase land and buy homes.”
Heidi Chartrand of the Nova Scotia Medicinal Association of Cannabis Dispensaries says she’s worried that patients like Clattenburg will be excessively punished for medicating in the wrong place.
Fines range from $25 for a first-time offence to $2,000 for repeat offenders. She doubts the ability of bylaw officers to treat complaints against patients on a case-by-case basis.
“We already get harassed and discriminated against and have to prove our innocence, and this will make it much worse,” says Chartrand.
Proving her point, Chartrand’s Higher Living Wellness Centre on Wyse Road was raided Tuesday by police.
Clattenburg says that between landlord notices, the impending closure of dispensaries, and the Canadian Medical Association recommending the end of a medical cannabis system, medicinal consumers feel ignored.
“There’s a whole group of us who feel lost in the shuffle,” says Clattenburg.
“A lot of us are really sick people who have tried other things, and other things made us sicker. Cannabis is the safer alternative for a lot of us.”
In her view, the buzz around recreational cannabis has drawn increased stigma and scrutiny to patients with medical documents, making it a challenge for disabled, low-income renters.
“I do feel marginalized,” she says, “simply because I’m poor, I’m a smoker and I’m a medical cannabis user.”
According to Statistics Canada, Nova Scotia has the highest rate of cannabis consumption in the country, with 20 percent of Nova Scotians having consumed within the previous three months. The 2018 survey didn’t differentiate between medicinal and recreational rates.
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This article appears in Aug 9-15, 2018.
Cannabis oil is available through the medical system, isn’t it? No need to smoke it; edibles are an option (unlike the recreational system).
Severely disagree with this piece. If it is genuine medication prescribed by a doctor , then at that point it falls under medical and not commercial use , and people with fibromyalgia should be vaping as the smoke from other devices increase inflammation leading to more flare ups. Vaping would be much less damaging, more effective and cause less nuisance & if prescribed by a doctor , landlords wont have the same ability to stop you. Furthermore, with the legalization of marijuana, medical recipients will be getting it from Shoppers so there wont be a need for medical marijuana clinics nor should it be grown yourself as it should be followed by your GP and dosed for symptoms , not self serve basis like recreational smoking. This paints these chronic diseases as having NO OTHER OPTION other than marijuana – there are 19 medications on the market for fibromyalgia and not once has pain clinics offered marijuana as a treatment option to me or any patients i know of. TENS units, medication, daily habits, anti inflammatory diets, yoga, acupuncture, etc are ways of treating pain without the need to smoke and narcotics may be available to those In excessive disabling pain. You do not need to consume to treat these diseases , this is her own personal choice of symptom relief which she is upset that is not accommodated (if without proper paperwork).
This is an unfortunate reality of Mr. Trudeau’s “legalization”. We will have more laws (46 Federally at last count, plus provincial and municipal) which will mean more jobs for police, bylaw enforcement, and likely corrections officers. True medical patients who fought for the right to medicate (which was finally granted in 1998) will suffer more than ever because of these “new” laws. Before legalization landlords were afraid of how human rights tribunals would accept this, now they get carte blanche to rid themselves of ALL smokers both medical and recreational as well as tobacco. Legalization is only benefiting 1)ex-cops 2)ex-politicians 3) friends of the aforementioned while legitimate patients suffer. The sad part is this is just so Trudeau could get elected, and little Johnny could say “I get to smoke a joint before going to get hammered at the club”.
Vape it. or move to my building – it’s a smokeshow and it’s disgusting.
As a medical cannabis patient myself, I can also attest that there are other ways to ingest medical cannabis than smoking.
Vaporizing, edibles and oils taken sublingually are all shown to typically be more effective for physical pain than smoking cannabis. CBD oil is known to be particularly effective in both trials and in the lived experience of myself and other patients who use it for pain relief. Smoking is also the one of the forms of ingesting cannabis that is actively detrimental to health, as it compromises lung health.
I am confused as to why the patients interviewed cannot find another way of taking their medicine that would be equally or more effective for their health than smoking, and would not cause issues with potential landlords. But there may be very legitimate reasons why smoking is the most effective way for them to take their medicine. I just dont know.
This article has left me with more questions and confusion than a sense of having been informed.
I am going to get off the topic for a minute then jump back on it. When I was younger I worked as a security guard in a 32 storey apartment building in Calgary. One night that I was working a lady with a service dog was trying to gain entry into the building,the superintendent of the building (my boss) advised me not to let the lady in because the building had a “NO PETS” policy, I argued that a seeing eye dog was not considered a pet but to no avail. I let the lady in after the superintendent went back to his apartment. Now the cannabis part? I myself do not smoke cannabis and can honestly say that I never have but I do take meds for pain, refusing to let folks smoke medicinal marijuana in their own home would be the same as telling me that I can’t take my meds in my own home therefore I quite sure,as in the seeing eye dog story that there Seems to be some sort of discrimination going on here. I understand that cannabis does leave a strong pungent odor but there has to be another way. So instead of municipal goverments trying to find ways of banning why not work together and try to find solutions because as was the case with the dog eventually they will have no choice but to find solutions, this is the year 2018 not 1970, this is rhe future so landlordsand management companies alike I would like to say ” get with the program ‘ have you ever thought of maybe some sort of ventilation system to combat your issues? This is just my opinion as a non smoker of cannabis.
Edibles and potent CDB oil (higher than 3% THC) are not allowed by medical documents. If a patient purchases edibles or potent oils (neither of which are provided by licensed producers in NS) that is not considered medical use.
As the law stands, edibles are not something patients will be able to purchase from a Shoppers. “Medical marijuana” is dried cannabis flower, seeds, or oil with a max THC level of 3%. Patients complain this is not potent enough for serious pain. More potent oil can be made at home, but making it indoors is a fire hazard, and vaping is an expensive option that doesn’t eliminate odour.