An Agawam couple is fighting their eviction for using medical marijuana.

Francine and Timothy Weinandy, who live in Sutton Place Apartments, received a notice of eviction on July 26.

According to the notice, the couple was told they were not allowed to smoke in their apartment or within 20 feet of the building, and they signed a no-smoking clause in their lease.

However, they then smoked medical marijuana, and at least one neighbor complained about the smoke.

“The fact that you have a prescription for marijuana…does not negate the no smoking policy,” attorney Lawrence Farber wrote in the eviction notice.

Farber also cited the Weinandys for “repeatedly and excessively” contacting the management office and cursing at a neighbor.

The couple has contested the eviction. A court date is set for September in Springfield Housing Court.

Francine Weinandy, 62, said she and her husband are planning to fight the eviction. She said they have lived in the complex for 26 years. They moved to a smaller apartment in May because they could no longer afford a larger one. She is sick with cerebral white matter brain disease, a progressive disease that affects the nerves in the brain. She had to close her business in 2016. Her husband has been disabled since 2001.

The couple says they generally vape, although they did admit to smoking out of a pipe on their patio.

“No one deserves to have their home taken away from them because of pot,” she said in an email.

However, Farber said the couple is not being evicted for using medical marijuana – they are welcome to consume edibles or vape - but for smoking it.

“This is a no smoking property, which means you can’t smoke anything,” Farber said. “You can’t smoke cigarettes, you can’t smoke marijuana, you can’t smoke cloves. We don’t care what it is. All the other residents at the property don’t want to smell your smoke.”

One independent attorney said while Weinandy has the right to use medical marijuana, she does not necessarily have the right to smoke it in her apartment.

A 2017 decision by the Supreme Judicial Court, Cristina Barbuto vs. Advantage Sales and Marketing, found that an employee cannot be fired for using medical marijuana to treat a disability. Essentially, the ruling established that under disability protection laws, a person cannot be discriminated against for medical marijuana use.

Michael Cutler, a Northampton attorney with Evans Cutler Attorneys who specializes in marijuana policy, said that means a landlord cannot ban the possession of medical marijuana or the consumption of marijuana edibles or vape products.

“Anyone who’s a medical cannabis patient has the protection of the state’s disability anti-discrimination law. That applies to employers and landlords,” Cutler said.

But, at the same time, Cutler said a landlord is allowed to ban smoking of all products on their premises, as long as that policy is applied uniformly to all tenants.

The state’s marijuana law also says landlords do not have to allow tenants to smoke marijuana.

Weinandy said complex managers have not enforced the policy against people who smoke cigarettes or cigars; Farber says it is applied to anyone who managers learn is smoking.

Weinandy also plans to argue in court that because she and her husband are disabled, the law requires some accommodation, and they should not be evicted for a first-time infraction.

Weinandy is not alone in her struggles with the law.

Nichole Snow, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, said she tried to help a Greenfield medical marijuana patient who had a disability and was facing eviction for smoking medical marijuana. Eventually, the woman moved to California.

Snow worried that marijuana is stigmatized in a way cigarette smoking is not. “It’s been very, very sad,” she said. “The landlords have the upper hand, and the way they interpret things in court is so strict, and it doesn’t favor patients that are seeking to end their suffering.”