PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS PUSH BACK ON FEDERAL MARIJUANA BAN

Even though recreational marijuana is now legal in Illinois, purchases are limited to 30 grams for Illinois residents and 15 grams for non-residents.
Even though recreational marijuana is now legal in Illinois, purchases are limited to 30 grams for Illinois residents and 15 grams for non-residents.

Public Housing Residents Push Back on Federal Marijuana Ban

BY WENDELL HUTSON, Contributing Writer

Recreational marijuana use is now legal all over the state except at public housing developments and private residences whose tenants are Housing Choice Voucher holders.

A federal ban prohibits marijuana use even for medical reasons at federally subsidized properties like the Chicago Housing Authority because the Controlled Substance Act lists cannabis (marijuana) as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which is the same category as it lists heroin.

Public housing tenants are outraged over being excluded from marijuana use at home all because of where they live.

“So what I live in public housing. That should not prevent me from doing something that’s legal like smoking weed in the privacy of my own apartment where I pay rent,” said Melody Sykes, a 32-year-old tenant at the Frank Lowden Homes, 9400 S. Wentworth Ave. “I feel like I am being discriminated against because I don’t make a lot of money and receive assistance paying my rent and that’s not fair.”

Tenants are not alone though when it comes to them feeling their rights are being violated with the ban.

“It’s wrong and needs to be stopped and that’s why the ACLU is lobbying to get this federal law changed,” said Edwin Yohnka, director of public policy for the ACLU of Illinois. “We don’t think anyone should be prohibited from using a legal product in public housing.”

For now, Jackie Thompson, a 36-year-old tenant at St. Edmunds Meadows, 6100 S. Michigan Ave., said she would walk across the street to a vacant lot to smoke her weed.

“I’m not trying to get evicted, although I saw plenty of people before marijuana became legal smoking in the building and I’m sure they smoke inside their apartments too,” contends Thompson. “But I think the risks are too high to try and smoke in your apartment, so I’ll kindly go outside to light up.”

One risk public housing tenants face if caught smoking is eviction especially those living at CHA developments.

“Using marijuana on CHA property, whether inside a unit or outdoors, would be a lease violation,” said Molly Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the CHA. “There is no smoking on CHA property, period (and) that includes anything.”

In case tenants forgot about the smoking ban, the CHA sent notices to all tenants shortly before the new marijuana law became legal on Jan. 1.

The notice stated, “The CHA can terminate all assistance ... if you, a member of your household, or a guest or person under your control is found engaging in drug-related criminal activity, including the use and/or possession of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes.”

The ban also applies to low-income tenants like Heaven Jefferson, a single 29-year-old mother of two daughters, who rents a three-bedroom house in South Chicago using a Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), which pays more than 60 percent of a tenants’ rent.

“I don’t live at a public housing complex but a rental house and I still can’t smoke weed at home. That makes no sense to me at all,” said Jefferson. “I have an attic upstairs and a basement I could use to smoke, but instead I have to go outside and freeze.”

Landlords, who participate in the HCV, (also known as the Section 8 program) received notices in December from the Housing Authority of Cook County (HACC) about its policy on cannabis use.

Nickolas Mathiowdis, a spokesman for the Housing Authority of Cook County, said while there’s no mandate for landlords to follow when it comes to reporting tenants not following its smoke free policy, landlords are still expected to do so.

“We encourage landlords to notify HACC when a tenant has been found to be in any violation of the terms of their program contract. However, landlords will not be held liable for illegal activities committed by a tenant if they were not involved in the activity itself,” Mathiowdis told the Citizen.

And landlords who fail to report lease violations to the HACC, such as smoking marijuana, “we would handle a situation like this on a case-by-case basis,” added Mathiowdis.

But one participating landlord in the HCV program said evicting lease violators for smoking is a big, financial decision for the landlord.

“When lease violations occur, landlords find themselves between a ‘rock and a hard place’ if they catch a (Section 8) tenant smoking marijuana,” explained Theron Sherrod, president of Sherfam Corp., a real estate management company that owns 42 units including three units in Bronzeville. “These tenants are ‘rent generators’ because their rent is paid every month on time [by the housing authority], so if a landlord evicts them, they lose that revenue portion.”

Even though recreational marijuana is now legal in Illinois, purchases are limited to 30 grams for Illinois residents and 15 grams for non-residents for those 21-years-old and up. And it is still illegal to smoke marijuana in public or transport it to another state. Employers are now prohibited from taking disciplinary action against employees whose drug tests may identify marijuana in their blood system. For new hires drug tested as a basis for employment, marijuana consumption cannot disqualify them either.

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