HIS POT'S LEGAL, BUT SO IS HIS EVICTION

Capital Region housing can evict man whose medical marijuana smoke has
neighbours kicking up a stink, and moving out

A Saanich man with a medical prescription to smoke marijuana to treat his
multiple sclerosis symptoms faces eviction from a subsidized housing complex
after losing a case in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.

Eric Young and his wife Marlene live in a two-bedroom unit in Beechwood
Park, managed by the Capital Region Housing Corporation.

Young declined to comment.

The 84-page decision of Justice Malcolm Macaulay on the Youngs' two
petitions to B.C. Supreme Court was released Monday.

In it, Macaulay said the landlord must follow its mandate of providing
quality housing to those living on low incomes. Some tenants have moved out,
citing the marijuana smell that permeates their suites.

"The evidence suggests that accommodating Mr. Young's disability would
require the CRHC to deprive many other tenants of the enjoyment of their
suites," wrote Macaulay. "It is also likely that the CRHC would continue to
lose tenants. This result would undermine the very purpose for the CRHC's
existence, to provide quality housing, particularly to those living at low
incomes."

Young was granted a medical prescription for marijuana in June 1999. In
March 2000, Young was given consent to grow marijuana for his needs under
certain restrictions.

In December 2001, Marlene Young was granted permission to possess and
produce marijuana to help her husband treat his medical condition.

The Youngs had two petitions before the court, the first against the Saanich
police and the Capital Regional District seeking constitutional remedies for
alleged Charter of Rights breaches interfering with their right to grow and
use marijuana. The Youngs alleged that the Saanich police were biased
against them when dealing with conflicts with neighbors because of the
marijuana use.

Eric Young chose not to tell Saanich police of his exemption status and,
therefore, said Macaulay, "cannot reasonably expect that police officers
will simply accept his assertion that he has an exception and make no
further enquiries."

The Youngs thought the housing corporation was singling them out because
they grew, and Eric Young used, marijuana.

But the housing corporation said it was acting on neighbours' complaints
about odour from the cultivation and smoking of the drug.

One neighbor complained she had two young men show up at her patio door
asking to buy marijuana.

The second petition dealt with the validity of the eviction notice.

The housing corporation is right in its request to remove the Youngs from
the complex, said Macaulay.

"To force the CRHC and its tenants to tolerate Mr. Young's marijuana smoking
would, in my view, constitute an imposition of undue hardship."