HUD position on marijuana as a medical expense

With the growing number of states that have enacted laws permitting the possession and use of marijuana for prescribed medical purposes, one of the more common questions I get is: Is medical marijuana and allowable medical expense?

Since none of the existing Handbooks or guidebooks (HUD Handbook 4350.3, Rev. 1; Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook; HUD Guidebook 7420.10G) address the issue, I posed the question to a HUD attorney working in the Department's Office of General Counsel (OGC).

The answer is: No.  Even if a state has made the use of marijuana for medical reasons lawful, HUD will not allow the costs incurred in obtaining it as a medical expense.

The HUD position is contained in a Memorandum to the Assistant Secretaries of Housing, and Public Housing, written by former HUD General Counsel Gay W. Laster on February 24, 1999.

In a longer "Compliance Corner" article that will be available today, I discuss this issue as well as the question of eligibility for federal housing by individuals using medicinal marijuana in the context of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act (QHWRA); as well as the current position of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 

NCHM certified professionals can contact me through the eHotline section of the NCHM website at www.nchm.org and request the HUD and Justice Department memos, which I will be happy to send as attached files.

Comments

[Sharon]

If anyone can get HUD to give us a difinitive answer for a change it's you. Thanks Mark!