Rabb introduces package of bills to protect medical cannabis patients, dispensaries from eviction, discrimination

HARRISBURG, April 20 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., has introduced a trio of bills designed to protect medical cannabis patients and dispensaries from eviction and workplace discrimination.

“Medical cannabis is medicine, and we must ensure that people who are prescribed medicine don’t have that held against them by their landlords or by their employers, and we must ensure that the providers of that medicine will not be discriminated against by commercial landlords,” Rabb said. “My legislation serves to protect the providers of medical cannabis and their patients, and to help them live without fear.”

Rabb’s three bills are:

  • Employee Protections for Medical Cannabis Patients – Would provide protections for employees failing a drug test due to their use of medical cannabis as a qualified patient by forbidding employers from discharging, threatening, refusing to hire or otherwise discriminating against such employees, and allowing such employees to bring a civil action against their employer.
  • Commercial Tenant Protections for Medical Cannabis Dispensaries – Would protect commercial tenants that legally sell or provide medical cannabis by amending the Medical Marijuana Act to prohibit landlords from evicting, threatening to evict, or otherwise discriminating against a commercial tenant for the lawful sale or possession of medical cannabis if the tenant is certified by the commonwealth.
  • Tenant Protections for Medical Cannabis Patients – Would protect tenants with a medical cannabis prescription by amending the Medical Marijuana Act to prohibit landlords from being able to evict, threaten to evict, or otherwise discriminate against a residential tenant for the usage or possession of medical cannabis if the tenant is certified to use the medicine.

In March, Rabb introduced legislation he coauthored with state Rep. Todd Polinchock, R-Bucks, that would remove DUI penalties for legal medical cannabis use.  

Rabb and Polinchock said medical cannabis patients regularly contact their offices concerned that state law makes it illegal for them to drive. Their legislation would apply to approved patients with a noncommercial driver’s license who use medical cannabis legally and are not impaired – the same as any other prescription medication. 

As a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I acknowledge this commonwealth exists on the tribal lands of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Munsee, Shawnee and Susquehannock.