Kelowna woman loses legal fight with housing co-op over medical cannabis
A Kelowna woman who wanted to smoke medical marijuana in her unit has lost a legal battle against her housing cooperative.
According to a June 26 BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, Natausha Couture argued the Okanagan Housing Cooperative Association had "unreasonably refused" to accommodate her disability by not letting her smoke marijuana for medical purposes in her unit or on the front or back deck.
It's unclear when Couture moved into the housing co-op, but in June 2023 it passed a bylaw prohibiting smoking on the property.
The bylaw did allow for exemptions so Couture applied to the Rutland co-op to be exempt.
She explained that smoking marijuana helped with pain and the emotional symptoms of her medical condition.
The decision said that sometimes Couture is restricted to using a wheelchair.
Included in her request for an exemption was a letter from nurse practitioner Pamela Klassen who stated that marijuana use helped with "pain and anxiety management."
In the decision, Klassen said it was "prohibitive" for Couture to travel over 200 metres to consume marijuana away from co-op property.
However, the co-op board refused her request and asked why she couldn't vape or use edible marijuana which were both permitted at the housing co-op.
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Couture then took the co-op to the online Tribunal.
In the decision, Couture said she had tried vaping and edibles, but they were "intolerable" and "ineffective" and that she cannot vape due to having asthma.
Her nurse practitioner backed up her argument but the Tribunal still wasn't convinced.
"Klassen does not explain how or why vaping and edibles were 'intolerable' or provide any details about this," the Tribunal said.
The Tribunal said that Couture hadn't explained why she can inhale smoked marijuana but cannot tolerate vaping, which also involves inhaling.
While one letter from the nurse practitioner is signed by a doctor the Tribunal ruled that the doctor hadn't explained why Couture must smoke marijuana for medical reasons instead of vaping or using edibles.
"I find the medical evidence before me does not establish that smoked marijuana, rather than marijuana in another form, is necessary to accommodate Ms. Couture’s disabilities," the Tribunal ruled.
Couture also argued the housing co-op had treated her unfairly and "violated her privacy" by repeatedly requesting detailed medical information to support her smoking ban exemption request.
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The Tribunal didn't buy it.
"When requesting an accommodation like a smoking ban exemption due to disability, a person must provide medical information to support the request," the Tribunal ruled. "Based on this, I find it was reasonable for the co-op to seek further medical information."
Ultimately, the Tribunal dismissed Couture's claim leaving her with a lengthy walk to smoke cannabis.
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