Condo Media - May 2013 - 31

balance the legitimate medical needs of
marijuana users against the equally legitimate concerns of other owners, many of
whom will object not only to the secondhand smoke but also to the presence of
drugs of any kind in their community.
The first response to any accommodation request is to verify the need for the
accommodation. You should ask medical
marijuana users to document, with a note
from their prescribing physician, the “debilitating medical condition” that requires
them to use the drug. Once the need is
established, the association should:
• Ask if there are drugs other than
marijuana that could provide comparable relief; if not:
• Ask if the marijuana can be administered by means other than smoking
it. Marijuana can be incorporated in
baked goods and it is available in pill
and liquid forms.
• If the physician confirms that smoking is the only viable option for this
patient, suggest accommodations that
will mitigate the concerns of residents
objecting to the second-hand smoke.
These suggestions will depend largely
on the structure of the buildings.
Second-hand smoke will be less of an
issue in detached townhomes than in
multi-story buildings or garden-style
communities with shared walls or
shared ventilation systems through
which smoke can travel easily between
units. A reasonable accommodation
here might be to require medical
marijuana users to smoke someplace
other than in their residences — on
their decks, in parking areas, or in
other spaces removed from the buildings, possibly even in their cars.
In negotiating with marijuana users,
boards should try to be flexible and
reasonable. The Fair Housing laws
require a good faith effort to identify
an accommodation that meets the
needs of the resident seeking it without
unduly burdening the community or
harming other residents. It is best to
avoid hard and fast policies or nonnegotiable positions.

Growing Pains

The state’s new law allows medical
marijuana users not only to smoke
(or otherwise ingest) the drug, but
also to possess an amount sufficient
to provide a 60-day supply. The law
also allows users and their authorized
caregivers to grow marijuana plants in
their residences if lack of availability,
distance, physical limitations, or other
obstacles make it impossible or unduly
difficult for patients to obtain the drug
elsewhere.
The possession and cultivation
provisions of the law create a number
of potential concerns for community
associations. Security is one. A 60-day
supply is a sizable amount of marijuana
— enough to be a potential target
for thieves who want to use the drug
themselves, sell it, or both. At $3,000
to $4,000 per plant, the multiple plants
users or their caregivers are allowed to
grow would be an even bigger target
and a greater security risk, not just for

the cultivators but for the entire community.
Growing marijuana in residences
also creates property damage concerns.
Marijuana plants require water, heat,
and intense light; the elevated humidity
creates mold risks; the high intensity
lights are potential fire hazards; the
increased utility usage could unfairly
burden other owners in communities where utilities are shared rather
than separately metered; and some
marijuana varieties emit noxious odors
that owners will find offensive — all
legitimate concerns and arguments for
prohibiting in-residence cultivation.
Such a ban could be enforced easily
against caregivers who do not themselves have a debilitating condition
requiring an accommodation. Requests from users will be more complicated. The law allows users to cultivate
marijuana if their access to authorized
dispensaries is limited. Because the
law authorizes the opening of only 35

SAFEGUARDING
your P R O P E R T I E S
Rogers & Gray has been providing risk
management solutions for clients for
more than 100 years. Our consultative
approach to coverage will exceed
your expectations in both protection
and service.

Michael Robinson • Executive Vice President
mrobinson@rogersgray.com • 508.760.5796 • RogersGray.com
Condo Media • May 2013

http://www.RogersGray.com http://www.RogersGray.com

Condo Media - May 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - May 2013