A man smokes a marijuana cigarette at Washington Square Park on April 20, 2023 in New York City — a hotbed of both cannabis consumption and complaining about cannabis consumption.
Photographer: Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress via Getty Images
Amid Marijuana Legalization, a Civic Problem Lingers: That Smell
The pungent odor of cannabis has emerged as a quality-of-life issue from New York City to Amsterdam. Here’s how cities are dealing with it.
In what’s considered a nationwide first, a 76-year-old woman in Washington, DC’s Cleveland Park neighborhood sued the tenant who lived in a rental apartment adjoining her home, arguing that she was made ill by the smell of the smoke from the cannabis he was using. The civil suit, filed in 2020, eventually went to trial; the defendant, a 73-year-old restaurant manager, argued that smoking medically prescribed marijuana eased his pain and sleeplessness, and that he took only a few puffs each night. “I am not Snoop Dogg,” he said at trial.
But in June, a judge ordered the tenant to refrain from smoking pot not only in his own home, but also within 25 feet of her residence.