Landlords, property managers, and housing associations are presently prone to breaching the Equality Act over their strategy to prescription hashish, in line with a brand new Hashish Trade Council (CIC) report.
Entitled ‘The Use of Prescription Hashish in Buildings’, the report reminds housing suppliers of their obligations below the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based mostly on incapacity (varied medical circumstances would qualify).
The report states that housing suppliers should guarantee cheap lodging can be found to tenants and leaseholders. This contains permitting the usage of prescribed medical hashish throughout the confines of a tenant’s non-public house and making certain privateness and confidentiality.
Moreover, the report notes that any rental settlement provision prohibiting or considerably proscribing the possession and consumption of prescribed hashish can be discriminatory. This might result in a housing supplier being taken to courtroom, or added to a ‘rogue’ landlord database.
Report creator Mohammad Wasway of PatientsCann commented:
“Housing suppliers should deal with prescription hashish sufferers like every other medical sufferers, and certainly ought to take steps to make sure sufferers can devour their remedy at dwelling.
“We urge landlords and housing associations to proactively have interaction with tenants and leaseholders, to make sure that don’t discriminate towards sufferers with disabilities.”
CIC Requirements Working Group Chair Elisabetta Faenza stated:
“The Hashish Trade Council will probably be partaking with housing suppliers to assist them perceive their authorized obligations and assist their tenants and leaseholders.
“We imagine it could be proportionate for landlords who proceed to disclaim sufferers their primary rights to be added to ‘rogue’ landlord databases or certainly be taken to courtroom.”
The report additionally supplies steering for sufferers to assist them perceive their authorized rights, and to navigate this advanced space. The report has been reviewed by lawyer Robert Jappie of Fieldfisher.
Since 2018, specialist docs have been allowed to prescribe hashish medicines to their sufferers, who’re then legally allowed to own and devour this remedy.
The report might be considered right here –https://www.cicouncil.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/09/FINAL_CIC24_08-The-Use-of-Prescription-Hashish-in-Buildings-1.pdf
