ABQ company ordered to violate rights of its customers, or else
A major apartment management company has been threatened by the federal government and told it must ignore state "law" and obey federal "law" instead. All "laws" are balderdash, of course, but in this case the state "law" is slightly less evil than the federal "law".
At issue are the state's medical marijuana "laws" versus the federal War on (some) Drugs/"jobs for idiots" program. The management company, because it accepts federal (sic) housing money, has been told it must follow federal edicts which falsely and bizzarely, contrary to scientific evidence, claim marijuana has no medicinal value. I understand the problems with accepting government handouts- a principled business owner would simply refuse to be bought- but with mass-housing (as with mass-transit), federally-doled money is a reality that isn't going away soon.
Absent the federal coercion the management company would be free to set its own policy. It would be within the owner's rights to kick people out for possessing marijuana, but it would still be wrong. Not everything you have a right to do is the right thing to do. This would be one of those cases.
