Steve Allain of Niles mists his medical marijuana plants, which he has permission to grow to treat his Hep. C, Chron's disease, and depression. He now faces eviction from his HUD housing for growing the plants on their property. (Tribune Photo/BARBARA ALLISON)
Story Created:
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:18 PM EST
Story Updated:
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:18 PM EST
NILES — Steve Allain has his answer, and it’s not the one he would have preferred.
Allain is the 54-year-old Niles man who, in a Tribune story last month, acknowledged he uses marijuana to help him deal with Crohn’s disease, hepatitis C and acute depression. To him, voter approval of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act was a godsend, or so he thought.
Instead of buying marijuana from, as he put it, street vendors, he can now grow his own. A card he recently obtained from the state allows him to do just that.
So what’s the hitch? As real estate agents might say: location, location, location. Allain lives in one of Niles’ scattered public housing sites, putting him at the mercy of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Niles Housing Commission.
Last week, he was informed that his request to grow and use marijuana in his home, while OK with the state, isn’t OK with HUD and the housing commission. He was ordered to vacate the premises by Friday.
Instead, he’s staying put, at least for now. Allain said Monday he’ll pursue the housing commission’s grievance procedure, which entitles him to a hearing before Mary Ann Bush, who on June 4 became the commission’s new executive director, and Scott Clark, the commission chairman.
If Allain is unsuccessful there, his next option would be a courtroom. That’s where he expects his case will wind up, and where, he believes, he’ll have his best chance to prevail, arguing he has done nothing illegal.
“That’s the crux of our argument,” he said.
He pointed to a provision in his lease that he says the housing commission is using to evict him. The provision, under grounds for eviction, reads as follows:
“Any activity by tenant, household member, guest or other person under tenant’s control, including sexual harassment, criminal activity that threatens the health, safety or right to peaceful enjoyment of the commission’s public housing premises by other residents or employees, or any drug-related criminal activity.”
Certainly, growing and using marijuana is drug-related, he said. But is it a criminal activity? In his case, he argued it isn’t, not when he has followed all the proper steps to register under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act and is complying not only with the act but the Niles City Council’s recently enacted ordinance intended to regulate it.
“I’ve talked to Betty Arndt, on the City Council, and I have no problems with the ordinance. This is commission policy,” he said, referring to the housing commission.
For her part, Bush said she sympathizes with Allain, but a check with HUD revealed a “zero tolerance” policy as far as marijuana. Allain has called about the eviction notice, she said, and has been made aware of his rights under the grievance process.
The housing commission director for less than a month, Bush indicated that issuing the notice wasn’t easy.
“The heart and head get confused sometimes,” she said.
A former truck driver and Waste Management employee who gets by on disability benefits, Allain said in the earlier Tribune story it’s a mystery how he developed hepatitis C. He also said marijuana has been his only effective and affordable means of pain relief, unlike other anti-depressants that left him with night sweats and night terrors.
The sole resident of the property except for his 17-year-old son, Allain displayed an indoor growing operation that currently features two plants just now in their flowering cycle. The plants are in a vulnerable stage, he said, explaining a disruptive light cycle associated with a move would likely ruin their effectiveness.
“I’d have crop failure,” he said, smiling. “Me? Physically, I’m worn out. Financially, my resources are depleted. Homeless people are doing better than me because they have no debt.”
He pointed out he keeps his operation under lock and key, as spelled out by the act and city ordinance.
Bush said she’s unaware whether Allain’s case is the first in the state where a tenant in public housing is facing eviction for participating in the state’s medical marijuana program. Allain said he doesn’t know, either, but he’s certain of something else:
“This is uncharted territory.”
Staff writer Lou Mumford:
lmumford@sbtinfo.com
(269) 687-3551
