Neighbor smoking weed in public - What to do?

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Originally Posted by Jefe's AR

The car is the same as a dwelling in Colorado. You know they passed that in order to conceal your gun in your car, right? Unintended consequences?

You can now smoke MJ in your open garage, back deck, front porch, etc. The open garage door was challenged and the result was, wait for it, property owners property rights. Thats's a conservative value isn't it?

There are many smells I don't like yet they are perfectly legal. There are many things I don't like yet they are perfectly legal. I'm not going out to change that because I enjoy living in a free society that allows me to do things other's don't like and vice versa.

Freedom comes with some drawbacks. One of those is that people will do things you do not approve yet they're free to do it anyway. You're free to move. Move to another state where MJ is illegal, move to the country on many acres of land that you don't have to see or smell your neighbors. Free to move to the mountains were you don't have to see or smell anyone. Free to join them. I promise it won't kill you and you won't see dragons trying to kill you and you just might like it.

I'm pretty much a Guns, Drugs, and Gays kinda guy. I just like freedom and don't really care what other's do. I also realize I live in a society of many different people who will have different opinions, wants, and needs than I do. I may or may not like those opinions, wants, or needs, but I'll fight to the death to defend those freedoms. Then get on an internet forum and complain about it. Isn't freedom great?

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You're missing the most important part of that conservative principle, freedom comes with responsibility, and the responsibility here is NOT putting others in danger by exercising that freedom while driving and thereby putting uninvolved innocents in danger.

I have no problems with people smoking some or honestly doing any drugs they choose, as long as they deal with the responsibilities of those actions, not driving, any health issues that arise due to their uses, financial issues, etc.

Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you and the repercussions of your choices. When you decide your freedom Trump's mine, we have a problem, and I'll act to balance the scales.

I'd go with:
1. Talk to him. Tell him your concerns, ask if he can change his habits. If he refuses politely, either go to step 2 or accept it and move on. If he is rude, go to Step 2. If he's super horrible, just jump to step 3.
2. Talk to his parents/those at his house. Same thing, try to be reasonable, try to be polite, try not to be confrontational, but be firm. If they take care of the problem, great, if not, again based on everyone's reaction so far, consider if you want to go to Step 3.
3. Call the cops. Even if they end up not coming, I would think getting a record going of how many times this guy does it would be important. Worst case, you waste some time calling them, best case, perhaps they come and bust the guy.

Getting other neighbors involved would also be a good idea, or at least seeing if they have an issue with it too. If you're the only one in the neighborhood who is bothered by it, chances are that you wouldn't get any satisfactory resolution. If everyone else is opposed, strength in numbers.

(Last, slightly tongue-in-cheek: 4) Fire extinguisher. If a fight breaks out, the cops are more likely to come. Sure they'll probably arrest you for something much more serious than the guy, but hey, they'd at least be there!)

You have my sympathy. I hate the stench of weed, and ever since it was made legal, every concert we go to is pretty much tainted because of the assholes that think it's perfectly okay to light up inside the venue.

Your situation strikes me as one of those things that you'll have to put up with- or else handle it with some sort of cunning 'diplomacy'.

You'll know best what your relationship is with your neighbors. I had a Cold War going on with our previous next-door neighbors, because the guy was a complete dickhead who thought it was okay for his Bouvier to come and shit in our yard. I won't go into the whole sordid story, but suffice it to say that it was not pleasant. They moved, and we have some wonderful like-minded neighbors now that we get along with just fine. The neighbors living diagonally across the street are classed as "acquaintances"- we'd give them a jump if their battery was dead, and we wave to them if we pass them on the street, but they've never been invited over and I would not ask them to gather our mail.

In other words, proximity plays a large part in this. Is there a street between you, or is this a next-door neighbor that has a yard next to yours?
Are you comfortable in speaking with the parents? Or would you be more comfortable dealing with the smoker? Are you more comfortable with a direct confrontation, or a more passive role?

You could sit in a lawnchair on your property, aim a video camera at him, and listen to bagpipe music while he's out there in the car, smoking. You can't do anything with what he's doing, because it's legal....but the same could be said for you. It's all out in public. It doesn't make for good neighborly relations.

It may be that the kid and/or his parents don't realize it's obnoxious. It may be that they don't care. I think this is a situation were you need a bit more information before you can proceed.

Honestly, I don't think the police will be able to help with this situation. The Parker police take their jobs pretty seriously. What you COULD do is call the non-emergency number, and ask to speak with one of the officers about any recourse you may have. You never know.

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Originally Posted by sampson

Just talk to the guy.. im sure if you were doing something he didnt like. You would appreciate him talking to you rather than calling the cops or homeowners association or some other government entity.

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This should be the end of this discussion. Wouldn't you want the neighbor to talk with you before calling johnny law?

If you have concerns, just talk to your neighbors. Most people are usually polite and will try and understand your point if you are calm and reasonable about it. If someone is pushed, the first reaction is to push back. Be reasonable and don't make threats. If the kid is underage, talk to the parents about your concerns for neighborhood safety. If the kid is not a kid and of legal age, be nice and ask him and his friends to get stoned somewhere else and not near your home. Be respectful and tactful and not threatening. It has worked for me many times in the past and I only got tough with known drug dealers and they required force, neighbor support and calls to the police to get them out of the area. I was never bothered by any of them afterwords.

And on the good side, once the dealers were gone the drive bys stopped too.

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Originally Posted by TheGrey

You have my sympathy. I hate the stench of weed, and ever since it was made legal, every concert we go to is pretty much tainted because of the assholes that think it's perfectly okay to light up inside the venue.

Your situation strikes me as one of those things that you'll have to put up with- or else handle it with some sort of cunning 'diplomacy'.

You'll know best what your relationship is with your neighbors. I had a Cold War going on with our previous next-door neighbors, because the guy was a complete dickhead who thought it was okay for his Bouvier to come and shit in our yard. I won't go into the whole sordid story, but suffice it to say that it was not pleasant. They moved, and we have some wonderful like-minded neighbors now that we get along with just fine. The neighbors living diagonally across the street are classed as "acquaintances"- we'd give them a jump if their battery was dead, and we wave to them if we pass them on the street, but they've never been invited over and I would not ask them to gather our mail.

In other words, proximity plays a large part in this. Is there a street between you, or is this a next-door neighbor that has a yard next to yours?
Are you comfortable in speaking with the parents? Or would you be more comfortable dealing with the smoker? Are you more comfortable with a direct confrontation, or a more passive role?

You could sit in a lawnchair on your property, aim a video camera at him, and listen to bagpipe music while he's out there in the car, smoking. You can't do anything with what he's doing, because it's legal....but the same could be said for you. It's all out in public. It doesn't make for good neighborly relations.

It may be that the kid and/or his parents don't realize it's obnoxious. It may be that they don't care. I think this is a situation were you need a bit more information before you can proceed.

Honestly, I don't think the police will be able to help with this situation. The Parker police take their jobs pretty seriously. What you COULD do is call the non-emergency number, and ask to speak with one of the officers about any recourse you may have. You never know.

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Sorry man but I only got a couple of sentences into your post before I had to say something... We quit going to concerts many years ago because of all the weed smoke. This was LONG before the legalization so you can't blame that. People always smoke weed at concerts so the laws really didn't affect that because in the eyes of the law it's been the same as far as smoking at concerts is concerned before and after. It's sad because my wife and I decided enough was enough and haven't been to a concert in probably ten years specifically because of that. I really can't see how the law change made it worse when it was bad enough before for us to decide to not go anymore.

Maybe that was just how I read that and not what you intended by the arrangement of words but I felt compelled to say something since some people are hell-bent on pointing out how the law changes are making things worse at every possible turn. Not saying you're one of those but that's how that read to me at least.

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

This should be the end of this discussion. Wouldn't you want the neighbor to talk with you before calling johnny law?

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Bingo. Be an adult. A big part of being an adult is doing things you don't like sometimes and this seems one of those times. Cops are there to deal with real crime and not babysit or play arbitrator on cursory discussions that should take place w/o their presence.

You're not the neighbor, but maybe consider what approach would have worked best for you when you were an obnoxious teenager.

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Originally Posted by Jefe's AR

The car is the same as a dwelling in Colorado. You know they passed that in order to conceal your gun in your car, right? Unintended consequences?

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That's not true. I'm not sure why the "car is legally your home" stuff got started from but its never been true. It is not how you can carry a loaded pistol in your car - there is a specific statute.

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Originally Posted by wctriumph

If you have concerns, just talk to your neighbors. Most people are usually polite and will try and understand your point if you are calm and reasonable about it. If someone is pushed, the first reaction is to push back. Be reasonable and don't make threats. If the kid is underage, talk to the parents about your concerns for neighborhood safety. If the kid is not a kid and of legal age, be nice and ask him and his friends to get stoned somewhere else and not near your home. Be respectful and tactful and not threatening. It has worked for me many times in the past and I only got tough with known drug dealers and they required force, neighbor support and calls to the police to get them out of the area. I was never bothered by any of them afterwords.

And on the good side, once the dealers were gone the drive bys stopped too.

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This.

You could go say something like "Hey Bro, I respect your right to get high. Any way you could please keep it in the house, garage, or back yard? My kids are out here all the time and I'm trying to be a good dad by not exposing them to too much if this as such a young age. "

I bet he will be perfectly reasonable if you are. Or you could just be a dick right out of the box and immediately call the police and waste their time even though they have way bigger things to worry about.


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