Althouse: Police in Longmont, Colorado tell citizens to quit calling them about their neighbors' smoking marijuana.

July 7, 2014

Police in Longmont, Colorado tell citizens to quit calling them about their neighbors' smoking marijuana.

Colorado has legalized marijuana, but some folks can't seem to process the information and keep calling the police demanding that they do something about the pot smoke they smell coming from their neighbors' homes. There's nothing the police can do, and this is wasting the dispatchers' time.

But... smoke! You shouldn't be forced to inhale other people's smoke, right? That's not police business, not in Longmont, anyway. In Boulder, by contrast, there's a noxious-odors ordinance.

We were just in Boulder, by the way, but I'm plagued by anosmia, so I don't know about the odors. But I can report that Colorado civilization does not appear to have collapsed. Things look about the same as they did before.

46 comments:

Michael K said...: Second hand marijuana smoke is OK because shut up !; 7/7/14, 11:27 AM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Has this affected your sense of taste also, Althouse? Either way it's probably not a pleasant thing. I hope it is temporary.

But it reminds me of my favorite scatological joke.

Q: Know why farts smell?

A: So deaf people can enjoy 'em too!; 7/7/14, 11:30 AM
bleh said...: It's a nuisance, like loud music or bright flood lights. There are going to be growing pains with legalized pot. Some people seem to think that legalization means absolute freedom to use.

I expect the law to change in Colorado and Washington to directly address marijuana, but more importantly I hope rules of etiquette are widely adopted. Ha, fat chance. Most people are self-indulgent idiots.; 7/7/14, 11:34 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Has this affected your sense of taste also, Althouse?"

Yes, of course. I can taste some things, but not in a normal way. I can taste saltiness and sweetness and sourness, but not the kind of detail that should be there. Texture and temperature are extremely important to me.; 7/7/14, 11:37 AM
Original Mike said...: "Satur and his counterparts in other Boulder County police departments did agree that public consumption of marijuana is illegal."

So, you must smoke your cigarettes outside, but your joints inside. Got it.; 7/7/14, 11:43 AM
bleh said...: "Yes, of course. I can taste some things, but not in a normal way. I can taste saltiness and sweetness and sourness, but not the kind of detail that should be there. Texture and temperature are extremely important to me."

Are you telling me that I learned how to properly cook bacon from a person who can't even completely taste it?; 7/7/14, 11:47 AM
jono39 said...: My taste senses have fully returned in the last year after having been driven away decades ago by an abusive landlord. Their return is most welcome. I have promised them to be a good landlord.; 7/7/14, 12:12 PM
Levi Starks said...: The poor reading comprehension guy says you should try some MJ for your insomnia...; 7/7/14, 12:19 PM
m stone said...: Also, most of us were born of parents who had no idea what they were doing.; 7/7/14, 12:21 PM
Beldar said...: I'm entirely unsurprised to read that Boulder is unchanged. Madison, Berkeley, and Austin would be too. You might have a different experience in other parts of the state, though.; 7/7/14, 12:27 PM
madAsHell said...: Tomorrow is the first day of legalized pot in Washington state. Unfortunately, the stores will have empty shelves because the state failed to provide growing licenses until recently.; 7/7/14, 12:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Collapse usually follows erosion, and erosion is well under way.; 7/7/14, 1:23 PM
Levi Starks said...: On second thought, shouldn't they be contacting federal law enforcement? Not that I think the response wold be different, however it might be interesting to discover if the Feds are enforcing drug laws in a capricious manner based on locality; 7/7/14, 1:33 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Was walking by a concert in the small community in the mountains of Colorado the other day, and was talking to a couple of tourists from San Diego. Asked them if they recognized the smell that just wafted by. Oh, yes. Guy had bad memories from the early 1970s in his National Guard unit, of guys just getting wasted on duty. And, there were city cops maybe 100 or so feet away.

My kid is in graduate school in Boulder, and spent a summer there doing research as an undergraduate (NSF REU). There has always been a lot of pot smoked in Boulder, at least since I was an undergrad more than 40 years ago. But, there appears to have been a jump in how much of it is being smoked openly outdoors now, esp. in Boulder. The kid noticed the difference 2-3 years made there.

Sat. night, we went to dinner at The Fort, by Morrison, CO. Great cuisine (mostly bison, elk, quail, etc.), but currently no rattle snake, due to a shortage (and, they can't take yours and cook it for you either). In any case, you can see Red Rocks from there, and there was a concert that night. We joked that with the legalization, you would probably get stoned just being around there. (Always was somewhat the case, but esp. now with pot legalization).; 7/7/14, 1:36 PM
jr565 said...: I don't get why, if you are going to go after second hand smoke, those breathing in second hand smoke from pot smokers wouldn't have a point.; 7/7/14, 1:37 PM
jr565 said...: Cigarette smokers can argue that at least their second hand smoke isn't giving people contact highs.
Maybe this will lead to cig smokers getting some of their freedoms back.; 7/7/14, 1:40 PM
n.n said...: Call the state tax commission.; 7/7/14, 1:45 PM
Robert said...: A whiff of cannabis coming from the house next door is no cause for alarm at all and poses no risk to health. As for calling the police, Longmont sure doesn't sound very neighborly!; 7/7/14, 1:56 PM
jimbino said...: A ban on smoke would put an end to the backyard barbeque. That will never happen, at least not in Texas.

Here in Colorado, it has been determined that toking on your front porch is legal, which doesn't much help a lot of tourists, who can't smoke in public, in bars and restaurants, in hotels and most other places a tourist might want to hang out.

There's always camping, where you presumably can smoke on the "front porch" of your tent. I guess I should just open my front porch and back yard to tokers for a fee?; 7/7/14, 2:00 PM
tim maguire said...: I imagine very little will change in the pot smoking world. Back in the days when I partook, I rarely, if ever, altered my behavior to accommodate the law. In fact, it was so normal, I sometimes forgot it was against the law.; 7/7/14, 2:02 PM
lemondog said...: What the legal pot movement needs to survive

Pot’s opening day in the Evergreen state is already riddled with bumps. There are only 18 license reviewers shuffling through 7,000 applications, checking criminal and financial backgrounds, business plans and proximities to schools. This is very time-consuming work.

As in other commodities, will there eventually be futures trading in pot?; 7/7/14, 2:18 PM
Headless Blogger said...: I am subject to random drug testing as a condition of employment per federal regulation. Second hand marijuana smoke could affect my livelihood - immediate discharge and a 5 year ban from my industry are the consequences as I understand them.

This is not all fun & games and Colorado should implement regulations to protect abstainers from inadvertent exposure to cannabis smoke.; 7/7/14, 2:32 PM
ALP said...: I have some sympathy for this, despite my love of weed. I lived in a condo complex with a heavy cigarette smoker living in the unit below. The constant stench of cigarette smoke wafting into my unit was annoying, and it was accompanied by the sound of a hacking cough so loud and disgusting, I thought I was in a hospital. It was so bad on one occasion, I nearly called 911; I thought better of it because if he choked on a lung, I'd finally be free of the issue.

I would propose that those creating such smoke, regardless of the source, should take steps to ensure it floats away from your building...not into your neighbor's home. Smoking near a fan that blows the smoke straight outwards wouldn't be too much to ask.; 7/7/14, 2:33 PM
Anonymous said...: The collapse of civilization is a slow, measured process. If it were quick, we might actually learn from our mistakes. Like putting your hand in a fire, ouch! That burns. Don't do that anymore.

But legalizing dope smoking for recreational purposes? It'll be a few generations before we see the results of that. And even when we do, it'll be blamed on other factors that have nothing to do with the collapse. Like Christianity, or the nuclear family.; 7/7/14, 2:43 PM
ALP said...: Tomorrow is the first day of legalized pot in Washington state. Unfortunately, the stores will have empty shelves because the state failed to provide growing licenses until recently.
**********
The local articles leading up to the first opening in Seattle are cracking me up so bad, I think I peed my pants a little a few times. They are written as if the black market is just going to disappear in a puff of smoke (pun intended). OMG..."there will be SHORTAGES!!!"

I've said it before and I'll say it again: cannabis is legal in WA state in a way that is attractive to the type of people that always wanted to try pot, but have no clue where to get it. The shops are for the people who half-believe "Reefer Madness" and fear that obtaining any weed would involve a trip to worst part of the city, putting one's life at risk.

That - and trendy hipsters willing to pay inflated prices for cannabis harvested too early and with a low THC content. Mark my words: this will go the way of grocery store tomatoes: store bought will never match the quality of home or "craft" weed.; 7/7/14, 2:45 PM
rhhardin said...: The apostrophe makes smoking a gerund.; 7/7/14, 2:50 PM
Michael K said...: "Yes, of course. I can taste some things, but not in a normal way. I can taste saltiness and sweetness and sourness"

Those tastes are in the tongue. The other tastes are actually olfactory. I assume this is either not recent or has been worked up with MRI, etc.; 7/7/14, 3:01 PM
Unknown said...: 18 year olds are obtaining pot licenses from their doctors - you know - because pain.

Same 18 year olds are selling it to their friends (some younger than 18.)

Pot smoke smell has increased all over. I know, I live here. Especially the bike path. Mix that with the increased levels of out-of work homeless and general choice homeless rainbow hippy B.O. and it's a delightful potpourri of stink.; 7/7/14, 3:21 PM
lemondog said...: This is not all fun & games...

No it isn't.

Pot plants slurp up California's water supply; 7/7/14, 3:27 PM
n.n said...: Puff the disrespectful dragon.

lemondog:

To puff or drink, that is the question!

But where will all the little fish go?

Then there is the end of the world to consider. Climate change tolerates no unwanted carbon emissions.; 7/7/14, 4:07 PM
lemondog said...: To puff, drink or grow food crops, that is the question.; 7/7/14, 4:34 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "In fact, it was so normal, I sometimes forgot it was against the law."

This. For so much more than pot, too.; 7/7/14, 4:37 PM
lemondog said...: Governor Brown Declares Drought State of Emergency

California governor issues second drought emergency proclamation

Is it raining yet?; 7/7/14, 4:55 PM
SGT Ted said...: I am subject to random drug testing as a condition of employment per federal regulation. Second hand marijuana smoke could affect my livelihood - immediate discharge and a 5 year ban from my industry are the consequences as I understand them.

I used to be an ADCO in the US Army. Don't worry, casual second hand smoke from a guy smoking on a street corner will not give you enough exposure to test positive.

You would have to be in an enclosed space with lots of smoke to get to the 15 ng cut off, much less the 50 ng 1st screen.; 7/7/14, 5:51 PM
Drago said...: jimbino: " I guess I should just open my front porch and back yard to tokers for a fee."

I think Kramer already attempted to rectify that injustice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpyBxXeTbDA

And not only that, almost cashed in with Jackie Childs assistance!

Now, there has to be some way for Jackie to cash in on Cracks wretched intellectual disfigurement!; 7/7/14, 6:01 PM
Chuck said...: " But I can report that Colorado civilization does not appear to have collapsed. Things look about the same as they did before."

Haha. I get it. That's a good one, Professor. "Things look about the same as they did before."

Anyway, on a more serious note: Give it a generation, then check back with us.; 7/7/14, 7:43 PM
jr565 said...: Lemon dog:

Pot plants slurp up California's water supply

Oops!; 7/7/14, 9:01 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: So if Colorado legalizes raping Jews not coverered per Muhohamed's rulings us concur shall?

Us per shall concur cause CO said that?

Disconcurrement Now.

Ann Barnhardt will take care of it.

With Sarah Palin.; 7/7/14, 9:08 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: BREAKING THE LAW
BREAKING THE LAW
BREAKING THE LAW; 7/7/14, 9:09 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tIPPSI4G_N8

Of course it is nothing short of de-manizing, a person of the gender mine, to link this type of woman demanding better, much, much better at that, of men.

Yet.; 7/7/14, 9:14 PM
Revenant said...: I don't get why, if you are going to go after second hand smoke, those breathing in second hand smoke from pot smokers wouldn't have a point.

They would have a point if "smoking tobacco anywhere that other people can smell the smoke" was illegal.

It isn't, so they don't.; 7/8/14, 1:55 AM
Revenant said...: Second hand marijuana smoke could affect my livelihood

If it was "second-hand" in the sense of "I sat in a car for hours with a guy who was smoking marijuana". Drug tests have a threshold specifically to screen out passive exposure.; 7/8/14, 2:03 AM
James Pawlak said...: The only other person I know with that disorder also has a dangerous inability to properly react to cold.

Do you?; 7/8/14, 2:48 AM
chillblaine said...: Interesting how the government is getting bigger and more intrusive, while also approving consumption of a substance which makes the citizens docile and pliant.; 7/8/14, 8:06 AM
Jeff said...: So, Eric, how did the republic survive before cannabis was made illegal early in the 20'th century?; 7/8/14, 11:23 AM
Blue@9 said...: I am subject to random drug testing as a condition of employment per federal regulation. Second hand marijuana smoke could affect my livelihood - immediate discharge and a 5 year ban from my industry are the consequences as I understand them.

I used to be an ADCO in the US Army. Don't worry, casual second hand smoke from a guy smoking on a street corner will not give you enough exposure to test positive.

Yeah, you'd pretty much have to sit in an elevator with a guy while he smokes 10 joints.

The second-hand smoke business, whether from cigarettes or marijuana, is nonsense. What about backyard barbecues? What about all the cars that drive by while you stand there and inhale all the fumes? "Oh, does my cigarette bother you? What about the three diesel semis that just drove by?"; 7/8/14, 12:58 PM