Q: In Seattle, WA, is marijuana a "controlled substance"?
In my lease agreement: "Tenant and/or Tenant's guests will not use, allow use, purchase, sell, or possess any controlled substance or drug paraphernalia ... [or firearms] ... on or near the premises." Since marijuana is legal in Washington state, would it still count as a "controlled substance"? And also, what would qualify as "drug paraphernalia"?
A:
Legally, yes; marijuana is still a controlled substance. And paraphernalia can be just about anything used to ingest or store drugs (the definition is: all equipment, products, and materials of any kind which are used, intended for use, or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, containing, concealing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance.).
If I were you, I would talk to the landlord about it. Why move in if you are going to face potential eviction for use of marijuana in the future? Given that it's legal now, it could well be that they would not consider marijuana a problem. It's probably just boilerplate language in a lease agreement that they drew up years ago. If you are afraid to bring it up, have a friend call the landlord and just inquire randomly.
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