Weed Charges-Personal Use

How are you guys handling charges for weed where the folks were caught with small amounts for personal use? These were formally misdemeanors in my area, but the town has decriminalized these charges where they're now subject to fines. I had a couple of people pop up that were hit with charges prior to these being decriminalized. How would you handle?

I wound up turning them down because the entire picture wasn't viable considering their employment or lack thereof.

--209.122.xx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by WMH [NC]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 5:12 AM
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I don't worry about weed. --50.82.xxx.xx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Barb [MO]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 6:09 AM
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I’m only worried about possession with intent or harder stuff. MO passed legislation to legalize for medical, and we all know medical is a joke, --64.251.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Lynn [MA]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 6:19 AM
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They legalized it. --38.142.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Deanna [TX]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 6:32 AM
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If it's a rooming house, I'd be more strict about criminal, because you've got more people living in close quarters. I wouldn't want people with recreational drug use in that kind of environment.

If it's a sfh, I look at how long it's been since their last misdemeanor, and what kind of misdemeanor it was, and whether it has a chance of affecting me/their ability to pay rent.

I had a few people I didn't know did marijuana when I gave them a chance-- and several of them did harder stuff, which didn't come up in screening-- and none of them turned out very well. One of them was a charity case I shouldn't have gotten involved with in the first place. He had people going out of their way to give him jobs and stability, but he was more interested in weed, which was legal in MA where he had come from, and he wasn't interested in focusing on managing real life.

The only one who did have a chance of being normal was an elderly couple who presumably used it for medicinal purposes. They would have been just fine-- except the IRS got them for not paying taxes, and started garnishing their SSI checks, and suddenly they couldn't afford me. They promptly told me what happened and gave the house back to me as neat as a pin... the only reason I knew they had been doing weed was because they accidentally left one of their cigarettes on the bedroom window sash. --96.46.xxx.xx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Tom Me [ME]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 6:58 AM
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Try it. You'll like it. --98.11.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Vee [OH]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 8:23 AM
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Same remediation as tobacco, room by room you charge for seal, prime and color coating which ends up around 250-350 per room, double deposited is standard in my area except the slum landlords who whine in court how they are allowing this to swallow any profits they could have had.

--76.188.xxx.x

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Paulio [PA]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 8:30 AM
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Depends on how you feel about people who commit federal crimes. Just like state crimes, you can choose to overlook whatever you like. For me, admitted druggies are a no-go. Lotsa reasons why. --174.201.xx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Sisco [MO]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 8:33 AM
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A possession charge is a big warning to reject. A cop isn't looking to make an arrest for possession unless the perp is involved in other criminal activity. --72.172.xxx.xx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Ken [NY]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 9:19 AM
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I never cared about pot,if I rejected based on pot smoking I would have zero tenants.If I did deny on pot arrests and they have now changed the law I would still deny for a past pot arrest,just because they change the law doesn't mean when the applicant was caught doing it makes it ok,it was still against the law at the time and still brought whatever criminal element to the building that you are trying to avoid being there in the first place --72.231.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Busy [WI]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 9:30 AM
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I don’t have issue with tenants occasionally using, as long as they are smart enough to NOT use when they know I’m coming over for repairs.

Getting caught with it, to me, might mean one of two things:

1.) Not smart enough to know how to keep things on the down low. Are they smart enough to properly operate a furnace thermostat, a vacuum cleaner? In home check will probably reveal NOT.

2.) Are they really the local dealer, and all the window screens will be torn out because they MUST offer walk-up service to the windows. Again, in home check might reveal.

Or, it might be something in their past, not indicative of future issues...but...

I’ve noticed that very few of the persons with weed charges have ever met my prescreening criteria. Simple things like 2.5 X. income, no more than one eviction, Polite to me and others around them during prescreen process.

Now, correlation isn’t causation, but.....

For me, it’s not so much the weed, it’s the lack of smarts about most everything else in life that eliminates those previously caught with weed. I have never had anyone with more than one weed charge get past the full screening process. PI have had good tenants with one old weed charge. --70.92.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Robert Phaedra [NY]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 9:32 AM
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I have no issue with pot use or possession for personal use. Do they have a job? Can they afford the apartment? Credit good?

If you reject someone because they use pot, you may as well reject anyone who uses alcohol. Much more likely to produce volatile behavior. Pot is going to be legal on the federal level very soon. --161.11.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by GKARL [PA]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 10:02 AM
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What killed their chances was the stuff other than pot. One guy was a rep payee for his mom and was trying to use that as income to qualify. The other guy got kicked out of ARD for failure to pay the fine. --209.122.xx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Doogie [KS]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 10:13 AM
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I would venture to guess that a larger percentage of the population uses weed (in some form) than what you think. I see it in a large percentage of my houses. The way I handle it is to tuck the information away in the back of my noggin. In the future, I am then less lenient with them when it comes to financial things. If they can afford weed, then they can afford rent. --98.175.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Busy [WI]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 3:25 PM
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just want to clarify one point- Gkarl wasn’t asking if anyone rejects based on pot use, but based on getting CAUGHT . Can be a big difference in how a prospect interacts with the community around them. (Or not.) --70.92.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by razorback_tim [AR]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 4:23 PM
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I agree with Sisco. Often a sign of larger problems. --70.178.x.xx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by AllyM [NJ]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 6:24 PM
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Latest word is that it causes liver enzyme changes and can cause permanent changes in a child's brain with one cmoking incident. Tar from weed caused lung cancer in the guy who used to play Latka Gravis on Taxi. I can never remember his name. It happened really fast. --73.248.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by BRAD 20,000 [IN]) Posted on: Jan 15, 2019 8:47 PM
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I don’t worry about. It’s everywhere.

As far as pending charges we HOLD their appl until the court makes a decision.

BRAD --73.102.xxx.xxx

Weed Charges-Personal Use (by Ray-N-Pa [PA]) Posted on: Jan 18, 2019 5:08 AM
Message:

I must be becoming a softy as I used to care more about it.

I don't partake in it.

It is sad, but now a days I think, its only dope. Maybe in another 10 years from now I'll be saying its only heron --72.23.xxx.xx

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