The movement to legalize marijuana has gained significant ground in the US over the past decade, with more than half the nation now allowing cannabis for either medicinal or adult use. If that means anything, it\u2019s that there\u2019s a heck of a lot of people out there taking full advantage of their legal right to partake in a plant that\u2019s historically known to cause trouble with the law. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not exactly live-and-let-live yet in legal states. Although fewer people are going to prison for cannabis, many are being dragged to court by olfactory-sensitive Americans over odors.<\/p>\n
The Washington, DC-based Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd is leading the charge. She recently filed a lawsuit <\/a>against her neighbor, Mr. Thomas Cackett, a registered medical marijuana patient, complaining that the marijuana smoke from his apartment was wafting into her abode, causing her to suffer a wealth of health issues. Although Judge Ebony Scott didn\u2019t offer the plaintiff any damages, she did, however, find that the smell of marijuana was a nuisance. The judge said that marijuana is legal, but Cackett \u201cdoesn\u2019t possess a license to disrupt the full use and enjoyment of one\u2019s land.\u201d<\/p>\n Cackett must now treat whatever ails him from at least 25 feet away from Ippolito-Shepherd\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n The court\u2019s decision is, of course, being praised by a slew of anti-cannabis kindred spirits who have, too, complained at one time or another about the smell of marijuana from a neighbor infiltrating their property. \u201cFrom someone living in a condo surrounded by short-term rental units, I agree with the ruling,\u201d Philip of Garden City Beach, South Carolina, said. \u201cYou can do whatever you want in your place until it adversely affects your neighbor. There are ways to get that medicinal effect without the smell causing problems for neighbors. We smell it all the time and it can make us sick and it triggers my wife\u2019s asthma.\u201d Plenty of others echoed that sentiment, arguing that, sure, it\u2019s live and let live\u2014but not if I can smell y\u2019all living.<\/p>\n Cannabis users naturally disagree with the ruling. They argue that there are plenty of unpleasant odors that often waft into other people\u2019s apartments that no judge would dare ever rule against. Arvie, a cannabis user from Maryland, contends that some food odors can be pretty pungent as well, so why single out marijuana smoke? \u201cMust I cease and desist if my neighbor dislikes the fragrance of Old Bay?\u201d he asks. \u201cThere\u2019s really little difference in comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n Right or wrong, it stands to reason that as marijuana legalization becomes more widespread in the US, more cannabis users could find themselves in court over pot odors, just the same as Cackett. They could lose the fight too and man, well, that really stinks. So, are there any preemptive strikes the average cannabis consumer can take to keep from being slapped with a lawsuit?<\/p>\n California-based real estate attorney Brenda Linder tells Cannabis Now<\/em> that she wouldn\u2019t worry about having to face the courts about complaints over the smell of marijuana, as further lawsuits will likely be rare. It\u2019s more probable, she says, that states, local municipalities and property owners are going to push back harder against pot smoke. That sort of backlash against the bud is already happening. The Fresno City Council, for example, passed a local regulation in 2021 banning smoking \u201canything\u201d inside of a multi-unit housing building and in any common areas. It was an obvious jab at cannabis consumers. \u201cI think that this was a bit of over-reach and duplicative since (under current state law) a landlord may include such restrictions in their leases,\u201d Linder said.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, tenants have no right to smoke in rental properties and no-smoking restrictions have been prevalent in leasing agreements for decades. Because marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance in the eyes of the federal government, smoke-free and drug-free policies are common to see in rental contracts. Even in legal states, property owners have the right to include this clause in their rental agreements. Many still do. California<\/a>, where cannabis has been legal in some capacity since 1996, is no exception. \u201cThe majority of rental agreements\/leases in California for years have contained restrictions against smoking anything in the rental unit\/home and common areas,\u201d Linder said, adding that the no smoking policy is a standard clause. That clause specifically mentions vaping and cannabis, along with cigarettes,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n In the case involving Cackett, he told the court that he smokes outside on the patio to keep from violating the no-smoking clause in his lease. He also testified that his landlord allowed him to smoke inside during bad weather. Ippolito-Shepherd sent hundreds of emails to Cackett asking him to stop smoking. Leaning on private nuisance laws is what helped Ippolito-Shepherd gain a victory in her case. It\u2019s a move we could see unhappy neighbors embracing in more jurisdictions.<\/p>\n Using California again as an example, state law defines a nuisance as \u201canything which is injurious to health, including, but not limited to, the illegal sale of controlled substances, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, bay, stream, canal, or basin, or any public park, square, street, or highway, is a nuisance.\u201d This law is typically used as a defense against drug houses, but it could be used by anyone wanting to pursue a lawsuit against a neighbor over nuisance cannabis odors. They would first have to prove \u201cinjurious to health,\u201d Linder said, but the \u201ceffects from cannabis smoke through a shared wall is not a stretch,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The good news? Linder doesn\u2019t think we\u2019ll see a barrage of these lawsuits where neighbors are sued for cannabis odor filling up court dockets. The bad news is that\u2019s likely because more states and property owners are going to tighten up no-smoking restrictions. \u201cSince tenants will generally be contractually denied from exercising that activity within a rented space, the facts constituting a cause of action for a private nuisance suit will be greatly diminished,\u201d she said. Any tenant that goes against these policies could ultimately find themselves on the street. \u201cWith enough complaints, the landlord will issue a \u201cnotice to cure,\u201d and if not corrected, then the landlord will evict. Since that is what is generally being done in California, I doubt there has been much use for, or application of, a civil complaint for a private nuisance claim. So, I doubt this will be some sort of rush to the courthouse.\u201d<\/p>\n If Linder has any advice for cannabis users wanting to avoid lawsuits or evictions, it\u2019s simple. \u201cDon\u2019t be a renter or purchase a home that has a shared wall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The post Sued for Cannabis Odor: Now What?<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The movement to legalize marijuana has gained significant ground in the US over the past decade, with more than half the nation now allowing cannabis for either medicinal or adult use. If that means anything, it\u2019s that there\u2019s a heck of a lot of people out there taking full advantageContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,2041,6745,437,546,90,3001,545,7030,374],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67273,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67272\/revisions\/67273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Outcome is a Real Buzzkill<\/h4>\n
Cannabis Smoke Restricted for Years<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Sued for Cannabis Odor: Now What?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"