Medical marijuana: the government is still washing its hands of the problem

Housing Minister Andrée Laforest confirmed that her government will not obligate tenants to provide a medical certificate issued by a member of the Collège des médecins du Québec to justify their use of cannabis.

This follows the introduction of an amendment by the Official Opposition during the study of Bill 16. Indeed, the Member of Parliament of Anjou-Louis-Riel, Lise Thériault, asked the government that a tenant who contests the ban of smoking cannabis for medical purposes must produce a medical certificate from a member of the Collège des médecins du Québec.

Instead, the government prefers to leave the interpretation of the law passed last year to the Régie du logement, which only states that a tenant can cancel a cannabis smoking ban if he proves that the use is for "medical reasons".

The Régie's decisions in this area are random and far from constituting a clear jurisprudence. Landlords and tenants can no longer rely on the law: they depend on the sensitivity of a judge or another person in the issue.

The Minister justifies her decision by claiming the protection of the confidentiality of tenants' medical records. However, according to CORPIQ, this is not an argument; a tenant would still have to provide proof in court regardless, if the file is presented to the Régie du logement. As a result, we are only clogging up the court more, instead of reducing its delays as planned with Bill 16.

It should be recalled that before prohibiting it, the CAQ had stated that it wanted to introduce this measure into the law in June 2018. Indeed, the district representative of Repentigny, currently a member of the Government, had tabled a sub-amendment to this effect to prevent, among other things, tenants from providing a certificate of complacency.