FAQ #9: Do property owners have to rent to marijuana users?

QUESTION:  I heard that, if Prop 203 passes, landlords would be required to rent to marijuana cardholders.  Is that true?

ANSWER:  Yes.  Prop 203 creates a protected class of drug users who cannot be turned down as prospective tenants.  A landlord turning down a prospective tenant on the basis that he is a marijuana cardholder could be sued for discrimination.

Under current law, a landlord can refuse to lease his property to anyone for any reason (except because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, handicap or national origin).  A landlord now may refuse to lease to someone who smokes, for instance.  There are very good reasons why a landlord might not want to rent to a marijuana user – for example, smoke can ruin carpet and even seep into walls, marijuana users might want to grow their own marijuana plants (which are grown inside with pesticides, fungicides, acids and bases that can create hazardous waste dumps), and marijuana users/growers might attract an unwanted criminal element to the neighborhood.  In Colorado, marijuana cardholders are rewiring houses to grow marijuana indoors and starting fires. If a prospective tenant is a marijuana cardholder, a landlord may not refuse to rent to him “solely” on that basis.  It would be up to the landlord to prove that his refusal to rent was based on factors other than marijuana cardholder status.  Marijuana cardholders in effect will take on a protected status similar to a religious or racial minority.