Pubdate: Fri, 06 Feb 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Scott Woodham

WHAT IF MY NEIGHBORS' POT SMOKE VIOLATES MY AIRSPACE?

Jasmine asks Highly Informed about clean air after marijuana becomes 
legal in Alaska on Feb. 24:

When my new neighbors here in Eagle River smoke on their front porch 
(8 feet away and below my bedroom window), I can smell it in my home, 
which is a huge annoyance to me, a non-smoking pregnant mother of 
two. Will their front porch be considered "private" or "public" if 
they decide to smoke marijuana?

Two things are at issue here, one legal, another interpersonal. The 
legal question is pretty clear-cut, and in the ever-shifting world of 
Alaska cannabis regulation, clarity is rare enough to be cherished.

Ballot Measure 2 (which turned into Alaska Statute 17.38) prohibited 
public use, but did not define what "public" meant. The Anchorage 
Assembly, whose municipality includes Eagle River, approved a new 
measure clarifying that term at the end of January. Other local 
governments around the state have begun considering similar measures. 
The city of Juneau just the other day added marijuana to the city's 
second-hand smoke ordinances.

The new Anchorage ordinance reiterates that public use of marijuana 
is unlawful, then defines what a "public place" means unless a state 
or municipal permit is involved:

Public place means a place to which the public or a substantial group 
of persons has access and includes, but is not limited to, streets, 
highways, sidewalks, alleys, transportation facilities, parking 
areas, convention centers, sports arenas, schools, places of business 
or amusement, shopping centers, malls, parks, playgrounds, prisons, 
and hallways, lobbies, doorways and other portions of apartment 
houses and hotels not constituting rooms or apartments designed for 
actual residence.

That definition does not cover the front porch of a single-family 
home, said Anchorage Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler in an email. 
Unless the porch were a common area for a multi-unit building, like 
an apartment building's front porch, it does not qualify as a public 
place under the code. A typical home's front porch is considered 
private no matter how tight a neighborhood's lot lines are.

Wheeler, who drafted the new code, added that other codes or laws may 
apply in situations where the byproducts of marijuana consumption 
cross property lines in situations like yours, measures like health 
codes and public and private nuisance laws. A section of Anchorage 
code (AMC 15.20.020) addressing public nuisances concerns "Soot, 
cinders, noxious acids, fumes and gas" and prohibits some behaviors, including:

Causing or permitting the escape of such quantities of soot, cinders, 
noxious acids, fumes and gases in such place or manner as to be 
detrimental to any person or the public, endanger the health, comfort 
and safety of any such person or of the public, or cause or have a 
tendency to cause injury or damage to property or business. The 
escape of such matter is a public nuisance and may be summarily 
abated by the department.

So, manners aside, they're free to smoke on their porch, but you're 
free to call in a public nuisance complaint. That's the case now, 
legalized marijuana or not. I hope that it doesn't have to come to 
that, though.

Certainly you have a right to be comfortable in your own home, and 
annoyance is a good enough reason to bring the issue up with them. I 
wonder if they don't know they're bothering you, and whether they'd 
try to do better if they only knew. The only way to know is to ask, I 
suppose. And if neighbors can't talk, who can?

It might put you slightly at ease to know that even if they did smoke 
marijuana on their porch, it may not rise to the same level of 
annoyance or hazard. Usually, people do not smoke marijuana 
frequently throughout a day like some people do cigarettes. Every 
hour or so was my tobacco smoking habit before I quit (three years 
ago this July, I'm proud to say), but smoking that amount of 
marijuana in a day would be far too much for most people, even regular users.

The exposure to second-hand marijuana smoke or its odor in the way 
you describe will not get you or your children high, and isn't at all 
likely to cause anyone in your home to fail a drug test. The 
long-term health risks of second-hand marijuana smoke are still 
poorly understood, but it is certain that any kind of smoke may 
affect people with certain health problems. Smoking around people who 
are overly annoyed or put in danger by smoke, whether its marijuana 
or tobacco, isn't cool.

But marijuana doesn't need to be burned to be consumed. And exhaled 
marijuana vapor may briefly spread a funny smell, but it generally 
won't have tars or byproducts of combustion. There are many aromatic 
components in cannabis, and not all "smoke" is smoke per se, maybe 
it's just an odor. Annoying, maybe, but not necessarily as harmful as smoke.

Whether it's marijuana or not, I'd urge you or anyone who feels that 
someone else's behavior has become a nuisance to say something. Ask 
them to be more considerate, or try to come to terms agreeable to 
both parties. Maybe they can find a better spot to smoke?

Speaking to one another about problems and being considerate of our 
neighbors is what we should all be doing more of anyway. But there's 
a fair chance that your neighbors wouldn't smoke pot on their front 
porch in the same rude way they do tobacco.

For a few reasons, public marijuana consumption may not be visible 
everywhere all of a sudden. That remains to be seen, but there will 
still be reasons for people to be discreet when consuming marijuana, 
and people will probably catch an illicit whiff now and then out in public.

Even after legalization, pot smoking will draw attention from other 
people, including authorities, in a way that cigarette smoking 
doesn't. Plenty of people won't want that attention for various 
reasons. People who work in some professions or industries may also 
not want their habits to be publicly known for fear of possible 
consequences. Clearly it wouldn't apply to your rather inconsiderate 
neighbors, but like some cigarette smokers, some marijuana smokers 
are careful not to bother other people who may have health problems 
or other reasons to keep away from smoke or strong odors.

Your neighbors may also want to avoid smoking openly so that random 
people in the neighborhood don't start hitting them up. Legal or not, 
cannabis costs money.

Depending on your neighbors' sense of humor, how about every time 
they annoy you with cannabis smoke, you ask them for a gram or two? 
Under the new rules, one adult giving another less than an ounce of 
marijuana will be legal. Call it a "clean air tax" maybe?

You can flush it down the toilet or down a storm drain, but your 
point will be made. The odds are great they'll keep it out of your 
airspace if you constantly tax their bag for lame behavior.

Have a question about marijuana news or culture in Alaska? Send it to  with "Highly Informed" in the subject line.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom