Disabled Medical Cannabis Patient in Legal State Faces Eviction for Three Plants
Wheelchair-bound Susan Deschene is facing eviction because she cultivated three cannabis plants with her caretaker son in her apartment in Lewiston, Maine. Although landlords have the authority to evict cannabis smokers, certain cases reek of misconduct and cruelty. If anyone genuinely depends on medical cannabis for survival, it’s the Deschenes.
The Deschenes grew cannabis at home because medications were too expensive, reported the Press-Herald. “We started growing because we couldn’t afford to buy all the different medications,” said Phil Deschene, who provides medical cannabis to his mother Susan who suffers from a spinal injury, a neurological disease and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Susan Deschene is also unable to walk on her own. Moreover, Phil Deschene has a baseball-sized tumor behind his eyes, which disrupts his hormone levels and causes his body to swell, leaving him mostly blind.
The Deschenes are clearly unable to provide for themselves, and depend on federal assistance, which is barely enough for basic necessities.
Per a 2014 memo from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, landlords have the say-so if tenants can grow cannabis or not. “. . . Owners may deny admission to assisted housing for any household with a member determined to be illegally using a controlled substance,” the memo reads.
Deschene’s landlord, Preservation Management, inspected her assisted housing apartment on August 23 and shortly after issued an eviction warning notice for “cultivating an illegal substance.” Preservation Management plans to launch an eviction case in the Lewiston District Court after October 1 to force Deschene and her son Phil, who is her caretaker, out of the dwelling.
Just because a landlord has the power to evict medical cannabis patients, it doesn’t mean they should. Not in this case, anyways. “It’s not hurting anybody,” Phil Deschene pleaded. “It’s not intruding on anybody.”
