Legalized, Decriminalized or Prescribed, Marijuana Issues Will Confront Boards
May 3, 2013 — Marijuana is becoming legal, to various extents, in a lot of places. Some states such as New Jersey and California allow if for medical purposes. Colorado just plain allows it. Some predict that sooner or later it will pretty much just be legal, basically everywhere.
The question is whether condo and co-op boards will be able to ban marijuana in instances where the state says its legal. Will a board be able to just say no? The answer is not so cut and dry.
Clearly, a co-op or condo board can protect public areas and common areas. To some extent they may also be able to take measures that are for the common good, including measures that maintain property values.
The things that cooperative boards condominium associations can regulate are very state-specific, and even within states is not always very clear.
You Say Tobacco, I Say To Hell with It
Some boards have outlawed tobacco smoking altogether, largely due to complaints that the smoke permeates into common areas or into individual apartments. Indeed, some people have become very sick because of cigarette smoking originating from privately owned residential units. But outright smoking prohibitions can be controversial and may invite a lawsuit.
As pot becomes more legal, boards invariably will be asked how and whether they plan to respond. And you can be sure that no matter what you do, your decisions will be challenged.
In other words, this is only the beginning of a discussion that will be occurring throughout this country for quite some time to come. But it never hurts to start thinking about new societal issues in advance.
Stuart J. Lieberman is a shareholder of the law firm Lieberman & Blecher and a former Deputy Attorney General for the State of New Jersey. This was adapted from his post at the blog "CondoLaw."
Photo by Torben Hansen, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.
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