By Adam Drury

 

 

Updated (12/12/2o18 11:30 Pacific Standard Time)

The landlord of the government-subsidized Niagara Towers in Niagara Falls, New York says the 78-year-old man he evicted over medical cannabis use can move back into his apartment. The happy ending to the tragic story comes less than a week after we first learned that John Flickner had been evicted from his apartment and forced to seek shelter at a nearby rescue mission.

LHP Capital, the Tennessee firm that owns and operates dozens of housing facilities across the country, including three HUD-assisted facilities in Western New York, says it is reviewing its policy on medical cannabis. At first, Flickner told reporters he didn’t want to move back to Niagara Towers. “I was just kicked out by those lovely people there, in the cold,” Flickner said. Nevertheless, Flickner did return to his apartment after his attorney, Kevin Quinn, obtained confirmation in writing that LHP would allow Flickner to use his vape pen to administer his physician-recommended medical cannabis treatments.

Flickner’s case also caught the attention of Trump administration official Lynne Patton, a HUD regional official overseeing New York and New Jersey. On Twitter, Patton wrote that state and federal law need to “catch up with medicinal marijuana usage and require private landlords to legally permit the same. Period.”

Original Story (12/10/2018)

 

The sun sets early up in Niagara Falls, New York, this time of year. And by the time a city marshal finished reading 78-year-old John Flickner his eviction order, streetlights were just starting to flicker on. Holding a plastic freezer bag containing his medical prescriptions, Flickner, who’s confined to a wheelchair, left his HUD-subsidized apartment and took an elevator down to the lobby while a Niagara Towers custodian changed the locks on the door.

 

As the dark crept over the icy, 28-degree day, Flickner pondered where he would go—and how he would get there. Flickner had some help from friends, who eventually found him