August 23, 2023

"There have been debates over whether marijuana smoke inside an apartment building is any more annoying than, say, a spicy curry simmering on a stove all day or a pungent pot of chitterlings."

"A better comparison would be to the 'corpse flower' at the U.S. Botanic Garden on the National Mall, so named because it smells like rotting flesh."

From "Learning the highs and lows of D.C.’s medical marijuana lingo/As recreational marijuana sales prosper in Maryland, medical dispensaries in D.C. jump through" (WaPo).

It would be racist to object to "a spicy curry simmering on a stove all day or a pungent pot of chitterlings," so be careful what you say about the marijuana smoke permeating your apartment building. That's the insinuation I'm picking up.

65 comments:

TRISTRAM said...

Its second hand smoke. The bans should apply.

Enigma said...

If MJ was tobacco, the Karens would scream that second-hand smoke invades personal spaces and affects the health of innocent people. They'd surely initiate a neo-temperance movement to ban MJ. But, since it is or was recently illegal, all good rebels/revolutionaries/compassionate souls must support MJ to have street cred and fight the system. The continues routine the-grass-is-always-greener-elsewhere lefty logic.

MJ smoke smells 100x worse than tobacco smoke. It earned the nicknames stinkweed and skunkweed for a good reason. Because of this, I presume that smell was the core motivation for classifying MJ as a Schedule 1 drug.

We might live in peace if MJ users shift to edibles and THC extracts, and if it's grown far away from other people. Enjoy your stoned life, as junkies will be junkies and as it's your health. Just don't expect government benefits for any resulting medical bills.

Gator said...

Marijuana smoke reeks. It is disgusting even in public areas.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Unlike other stinks the marihuana stink carries the burden of once having a legal prohibition, if you will.

That’s the desired effect sought in Trump’s political prosecution. The prejudice conjured by indictments is a high threshold to overcome because it’s not racional. Just like the marijuana stench when compared to other stenches.

No judge instructions are strong enough to overcome a prejudice against marijuana and against Trump.

#TrumpChallenge

Bob Boyd said...

First time I've ever encountered the word "chitterlings".
My initial reaction, of course, was disgust at this ivy-eubonics corruption of Standard American English. But then I realized the poor fellow was likely struggling with an unfortunate overexposure to the wrong sort socially and/or a mental illness, was probably doing his best to describe chitlins and probably should be treated with pity rather than loathing.

Kevin said...

Shorter WAPO: Here is the latest update to the list of what is and is not objectionable.

Align yourselves accordingly and begin shaming others.

Big Mike said...

It would be racist to object to "a spicy curry simmering on a stove all day

And I think it’s ignorant to assume only members of one particular race cooks a spicy curry on their stoves.

The Crack Emcee said...

I don't know anyone who eats "chitterlings" - it's chittlins

Big Mike said...

At any rate the case against marijuana smoke in an apartment building is other people, including children possibly, getting unwanted highs from secondhand smoke. It’s not an urban legend.

The Crack Emcee said...

By the way, except for the corpse flower, nothing mentioned bother me, as far as smells go. I imagine people who get annoyed at such things don't respond well to babies crying.

Dave Begley said...

Tobacco spoke bad.
Pot smoke good.

Two legs bad.
Four legs good.

George Orwell, Animal Farm.

PB said...

Way worse.

Heartless Aztec said...

I'm elderly. Lost my sense of smell 10-ish years ago. Literally my shit doesn't stink. Nor anybody else's for that matter.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Black dude I knew used to call 'em "wrinkle steaks". He thought they smelled bad too.

Leland said...

Tristam out of the gate. Smoke is the problem.

Leland said...

Will an only simmering pot of curry or pungent pot of chitterlings set off the apartment building smoke detectors?

Amadeus 48 said...

To be downwind from the marijuana factory along Roaring Fork near Basalt CO literally takes your breath away. That stuff reeks even when it isn't lit.

Dan from Madison said...

First comment wins the thread right out of the gate.

BudBrown said...

Looking it up I realize the connection between chitterlings and chitlins which I guess has eluded me til now. Chitterlings is pronounced chitlins. Howd that ever come to be?

gilbar said...

okay, some serious questions:
a few days ago, i stated that Most regular pot smokers smoked "All day, everyday"
And one of you told me that i was "full of sh*t"
he said that he, personally only had a few one hits.. Every evening; but that his dealer smoked constantly.

So, my question are:
If (IF!) people are NOT smoking pot constantly.. HOW COME the buildings reek of pot, constantly?
If the usual user only had a few one hits.. Every evening; WHY is the building FULL of pot smoke 24/7?

"like a spicy curry simmering on the stove ALL DAY"

gilbar said...

i kinda DON'T think it's all about a few elderly gents taking 'a few one hits at the end of the day'

n.n said...

Diversity, carbon emissions, and [local] climate change.

re Pete said...

"Well, they’ll stone ya when you’re trying to be so good"

Seamus said...

I don't know anyone who eats "chitterlings" - it's chittlins

That may be how it's pronounced, but it's spelled "chitterlings."

Just like victuals is pronounced "vittles."

Owen said...

What about the contact high imposed on neighbors in your apartment building when you light up a spliff? I understand that MJ today is much more potent than in the bad old days, so if I live near you with my babe in arms who is now stoned to the bone, I may not be so understanding of your self-indulgence.

Sebastian said...

"medical dispensaries in D.C. jump through"

Ah, yes, "medical," cuz "studies show" . . .?

"It would be racist to object . . . That's the insinuation I'm picking up"

And you would be correct. Is there any instance of a curry smell as pervasive as that of pot in many places? For that matter, is there any prog policy objecting to which could not be insinuated to be racist by progs?

Pot smells like the rotting flesh of a dying society.

Darkisland said...

Chitterlins is correct spelling though it is pronounced chitlins. When used in food context at least.

Good eating however you pronounce them. We call them mondongo or tripas down here in the far southern us.

Same as Worcester shire sauce being pronounced "Woostersheer" sauce and Worcester mass "Wooster"

John Henry

Scott Patton said...

"There have been debates over whether marijuana smoke inside an apartment building is any more annoying than, say, a spicy curry simmering on a stove all day or a pungent pot of chitterlings."
or Stayfree maxipad bicycle helmet liners.

Yancey Ward said...

Marijuana smoke stinks. It is offensive.

Biff said...

Meanwhile, more and more towns ban single-family homes for "affordability" reasons.

rehajm said...

Marijuana smoke is way worse than tobacco, candles, and cooking odors, though much less worse than the woman that fumigates the elevator with Lancome Tresor every morning..

Original Mike said...

I wouldn't inflict any of those smells on my neighbors.

holdfast said...

I once lived in a building in an Indian neighborhood (in a North American city) where the pungent odor of curry became so pervasive that it hung like a fog 24/7. The carpets and even the walls were saturated to the point where I assumed the only way to expunge it would be to gut the building - if not simply demolish it.

Didn't really bother me that much - I only lived there for less than a year - but I wonder how the owner of the building felt?

lonejustice said...

As a former user, I can say that marijuana, whether raw or smoked, actually smells good to the user. Probably because you associate the smell with the mellow high.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Skunk weed is gross. but yes - also so are funky cooking smells. (I love good cooking smells)

Sometimes my french neighbor makes something and their new vent pumps out the smell from their kitchen to my yard and it is so good. (the other day she was cooking something gross) Good luck calling the offensive odor police.

Protecting the olfactory zone... a tough on on a busy planet.

Dave Begley said...

Does pot smoke cause lung cancer? I don't know. Has it been studied?

Spiros said...

The government got wealthy and (over) educated people to stop cigarette smoking. It's odd that our government is encouraging poor and working class people to continue their terrible habits.

Kevin said...

It would be racist to object to "a spicy curry simmering on a stove all day …”

When everything is racist, nothing is.

tommyesq said...

Some would dispute that you can't complain about cooking smells - see, for example, the vegan woman from Perth who sued her neighbors for grilling meat outside where she could smell it.

https://time.com/5667413/vegan-sues-barbecue/

cf said...

I have occasionally enjoyed smoking marijuana ever since my first environmental protest in 1969. My aim is for "Holy Smoke", thoughtful seeing-new purpose, as Carlos Castaneda described way back when -- indeed, he would stand aside quietly at Hollywood parties and not participate in the passing of the roach.

My husband and I celebrated here in Oregon when it was legalized by buying marijuana in a store for the first time in our lives.

I love it. But of course, I don't like the idea of "smoking".

And sadly, I discovered that candies and other derivations do not create the sensory high chemistry profile that alone happens with marijuana SMOKE. I have only learned that through the experience of trying these products now that they are available. They are a waste.

So, every 4 to 10 days or so, I go far down to our spring in the wetlands, where no offense can be smelled, and puff just enough for a session of Mind that inspires at least as much as a fine church sermon.

G*d Bless America.


Ralph L said...

In the 90s, I often used a window fan to cool off my bedroom, and I could tell when a MJ smoker two houses down would light up most weekend evenings. But the prevailing winds blew the smell the other way onto the town's main drag, so he probably got caught. Dumb ass.

I wonder if TPTB realize they've set us up for widespread, likely (more) violent Social Darwinism when the Federal govt goes bust and can't bail out reckless people and spendthrift cities and states. Some Lives Don't Matter.

I changed part of my walk last night and saw 3 people sleeping rough in two blocks of our small downtown, almost in sight of police HQ. I can't remember ever seeing more than two before, and it's usually zero.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

OT:

Local officials in Maui are not only inept (as usual) they caused death

Gospace said...

"There have been debates over whether marijuana smoke inside an apartment building is any more annoying than, say, a spicy curry simmering on a stove all day or a pungent pot of chitterlings." Yet the marijuana smoke is indicative of criminal activity, the other smells are not.

One of the advantages of living on 8 acres in ruralville- I don't have to contend with either, nor tobacco smoke. OTOH, there's the few times a year of shit spreading and cow or horse noises all day and night- depending on which ones my neighbors are finishing before slaughter. But those noises are less jarring then sirens and gunshots throughout the night at random intervals. Gunshots are from sunrise to sunset only during hunting season.

rcocean said...

It stinks. Leaving aside the dangers of second hand smoke, its like any noxious odor, and should not be allowed to bother others in an enclosed space.

If you have to be 100 feet from a building to smoke tobbacco, the same should apply to MJ.

Like tobbacco, you don't have to smoke it to enjoy it. One can eat MJ, you can chew tobbacco. No reason for anyone to be disturbed and possibly medically injured by 2nd Hand MJ Smoke.

BTW, if you live in a Big Blue City, don't worry. your local police aren't investigating thefts, DMV violations, or people pissing in the streets. Chances they will care abuot you violating a smoking ban in a building = 0. Its the world bourgeois Libtards want.

Narayanan said...

has anyone yet asked VP Kamala to be side-gig brand-spokester for weed marketing?

MayBee said...

Yes! Another attempt to just change what everyone in the world recognizes to what the activists want people to perceive.

Pot doesn't smell awful and skunky. It's *you* who are making an unfair judgment against a perfectly neutral smell!!

MayBee said...

Also I will say, as someone who has lived in many countries and who has shown many houses to potential buyers-- a lot of people really really really do not like the residual smells of having simmered curry in the kitchen. (same as with fish)

Narr said...

IDK. Some people find the aroma of sizzling meat disgusting (I will eat their portion).

I wouldn't mind second-hand pot smoke if I could get a good buzz for free, but if there are rules against smoking baccy or wacky tabaccy then they should be enforced.



Original Mike said...

"a lot of people really really really do not like the residual smells of having simmered curry in the kitchen."

Guilty. I don't like the taste of curry. An omnipresent curry smell would be awful.

Oligonicella said...

I've smoked pot for over fifty years.

It's second hand smoke. It doesn't belong in public, keep it in your own home. Same goes for smoking out the neighborhood with BBQ.

If it's just aroma, deal with it. Otherwise you lend credence to the vegans that complain their next door neighbor's steaks offend them. If they get credence, some of you women wear perfumes that offend me, stop it.

Static Ping said...

You can get high from second-hand marijuana smoke. Probably not going to be an issue in an apartment building setting, but it is not entirely out of the question depending on how much of the stuff is around.

MB said...

Smoke smell, whether tobacco or weed, tends to linger. It becomes more unpleasant as time passes because it also gets a staleness to it. Even though weed smells like someone tried to set a skunk on fire, it does not bother me as much as old tobacco smoke which smells like an old ashtray.

I wouldn't compare it to a curry*, I'd say smoke is offensive the way cooking fish smells can be. Or boiled cabbage.

The government created this problem by legalizing medical marijuana before recreational. You can't tell someone they can't take their prescribed medication in their own home.

*I had a former coworker from India who would get mad at the British/American use of the word "curry". According to her, curry just meant gravy. It didn't describe a particular dish so it wouldn't have a particular smell.

Doug said...

Be careful what you say about everything and anything, so sayeth the Moderator. Censor yourself.

gilbar said...

Dave Begley said...
Does pot smoke cause lung cancer? I don't know. Has it been studied?

Pot is (or was?) a "schedule 1 drug" which means (meant?) that it was just about IMPOSSIBLE to do medical research on them (as they had 'no medical benefits' )

So what you get, is a long list of "marijuana MIGHT cause lung cancer.. More research is needed"

This is Why the 1st thing the feds NEED to Do (IMO) is reschedule marijuana; to allow testing.
Every time you hear someone say something like:
"marijuana is harmless!"
or..
"marijuana is NO MORE DANGEROUS THAN TOBACCO OR ALCOHOL"
what they are REALLY saying is: There is NO EVIDENCE of dangers.. Because there has been NO TESTING


Tina Trent said...

As I learned from my pungent neighbor, the only thing worse than the smell of a pot house is the smell of a meth house. Meth heads are the durian fruit of drug addicts.

Leslie Graves said...

100%.

0_0 said...

That "pungent odor" smells like shit, which makes sense.
We are not allowed to object?

Progs want the future to be everyone in apartment buildings except the elite. This isn't selling the concept.

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...

Is it possible that "chitlins" is pronounced, "CHIT-linz," but spelled as "chitterlings," in much the same way that "VIT-uhlz" is spelled "victuals," but never, ever in the history of the English language pronounced "VIC-choo-uhls?"

reader said...

This is from the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law but for what it's worth...

Q: What are the health risks of secondhand cannabis smoke?

A: Limited research has been done on the risks of exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke, in contrast to the decades of scientific studies on secondhand tobacco smoke.3 Recent studies, however, have shown that emissions from burning cannabis and tobacco cigarettes contain many of the same toxins, irritants, and carcinogens.4 Among the thirty-three known carcinogens present in cannabis smoke are acetaldehyde, arsenic, benzene, chromium, formaldehyde, isoprene, lead, mercury, nickel, and quinoline.5

https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/Cannabis-MUH.pdf

Old and slow said...

If you can't afford to (or are unwilling to) locate yourself far enough away from your neighbors to not be bothered by their various smells, then you just need to suck it up and live with it. There are trade offs of all sorts involved in the decision about where to live. Curry, cannabis, and diesel exhaust go with the territory in the city. I like to add in a bit of sulphurous boiled cabbage smell to round it off.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Big Mike,

And I think it’s ignorant to assume only members of one particular race cooks a spicy curry on their stoves.

You'd be right, of course. I make curries several times a week, and I'm your basic WI-born white girl. Just at the moment there's a complex lentil/beans/chicken thing in the fridge, and also the remnants of a shrimp fritter dish, over a rice/cauliflower/onion/spices dish called ghee chawal.

Gospace said...

No one has yet mentioned the permeating smell of kimchi. There must be entire neighborhoods in Korea that even if they stopped today- would smell of kimchi nest century.

I've been to a few Chinatowns in the USA- but no Koreatowns. Are they permeated with kimchi?

Jamie said...

So, I'm surprised to get this far into the thread without anyone's commenting that chitterlings and curry are foodstuffs that sustain life, and pot is... not.

In my area, we have many many expats, a good number from the Indian subcontinent, and when we were house-shopping we toured a number of houses that smelled distinctly of (what we would call - HT to the commenter who pointed out that "curry"=gravy) curry. I like, even love, curry. I make curry about twice a month or so, as hardcore as I can make it. But I didn't want to buy a house that smelled permanently of coriander and cardamom and turmeric and all, much as I enjoy cooking with all these seeds and spices.

Even less would I want to buy a house that smelled of pot. Bleah. As it is, I objected to the still-unidentified smell of the pantry of the house we did buy, and even after washing and bleaching and walls and shelves I can still smell it when I return after having been gone for a while. I expect I need to repaint... and then it'll smell like paint.

The legal pot people keep conflating pot with things with which it has no equivalence.

Kirk Parker said...

Bob Boyd,

Wuuuut? You need to get out more. The English language, everywhere but especially in its original home of Merry Olde England, is full of these delightful disparities between the written and spoken word.

The maritime arena is full of them:

  Boatswain, pronounced bosun
  Studdingsail, pronounced stuns'l

But my favorites are the place names and surnames:

  Worcestershire, pronounced wustersher
  Cholmondeley, pronounced chumley

boatbuilder said...

Worcester, MA is not pronounced "Wooster."

At least it is not pronounced that way anywhere East or North of Worcester.

It is pronounced "Woostah."