Should I say something about neighbours smoking weed in the garden?

I have neighbours that smoke cannabis at the sides and back of my garden. I would love to sit out and enjoy my garden when I have finished work. But the smell of it from all sides is getting me down I have lived in my house for 12 years the smoke it all day everyday so I don't get to enjoy my garden don't even open the windows and the neighbours have asked why but that's one cos of the smell and to I am allergic to bees just wanting them to be considerate to others or point me in the right direction so I can buy something to stop the smell while I enjoy my garden

Exactly. Even people who had spent 3 hours indoors with multiple people continuously smoking marijuana only had trace amounts in their bodies. And that is exposure thousands of times greater than what you experience if you're outside and a few metres away.

The concentration of a gas makes a massive difference to its effect - just like with a liquid: gin (40% alcohol) will get you a whole lot drunker than a low alcohol beer (about 2%).

It's the same with gases. Thinking that you are going to be harmed by a few particles per million of THC is like thinking that you're going to be harmed by carbon dioxide in normal air, just because high levels of carbon dioxide are dangerous. Carbon dioxide will indeed kill you in a high concentration, but it's perfectly safe at the concentration present in normal air.

It is completely and utterly barking to deny a child exercise and time outdoors because someone is smoking weed next door. For one thing, the indoor environment is probably more polluted - volatile organic compounds from cleaning products, toiletries and plug-ins, gas hobs, woodburners.

Worrying about a bit of weed next door is like crossing a busy road, and worrying about the 3 year old on a scooter coming towards you, instead of the HGV doing 60.

nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/what-are-effects-secondhand-exposure-to-marijuana-smoke
@Chloelash @MissLucyEyelesbarrow

They really can’t at the concentrations of weed they will experience outside at a distance of a couple of metres, at least.

Just because you can smell something does not mean it is present in harmful concentrations. Preventing your Dc from playing outside out of misplaced fears is absolutely nuts.

I feel your pain. We have students next door and one of the lads last year was constantly smoking outside. It was so potent as well. I wouldn't have minded if it was occasional, but it was multiple times a day and getting to the point where the kids were asking what the smell was and it was very overpowering.
Luckily we know the landlord and we had a quiet word with him in the end.

Maybe tell a white lie if you’re worried about awkwardness. Ie your toddler has had chest infections and more susceptible to them, so could they smoke further away from your garden/not at certain times? Agree just referring to smoking, as it’s the toxins that are your issue, not drugs per se.
If they felt it was the latter and were unreasonable they might make it awkward/not feel the need to comply but if it’s to accommodate your child’s health might be amenable?

I agree with others though that second hand smoke outdoors isn’t any more harmful than general traffic pollution we’re exposed to but if you can avoid it through negotiating I’d go for that. It’s crazy/upsetting to avoid your own garden for that reason esp with a young kid!

They most definitely can get stoned from second hand smoke from marijuana weed!!!
Just a thought O.P there's a massive amount of legal CBD weed being Vaped and smoked these days, looks and smells exactly the same but has extremely low THC levels, the bit that gets you high. Either way I'd definitely have a word with them.

Why don’t you have a friendly chat and ask if there could be a timeframe when they don’t smoke outside so your child can go out. However, remember that they have the same rights to enjoy their garden as you and cigarette smoking isn’t illegal (and the police won’t do anything about small recreational use either) so you’ll be at the mercy of their goodwill. I’d hate it and would also look into moving but appreciate that’s just not always realistic (and you don’t know what your new neighbours will be like).

Yes this, and you can ask them to arrange themselves around your child’s playtime. They hopefully will.

I’m doubtful it’s concentrated enough to do any harm though, it’s not a closed space.

Ok link one of these studies that demonstrate breathing in second hand smoke outside from your next-door neighbours is harmful. It should be easy for you to do if there's so many? I genuinely can't find one. I've looked in the last half hour, but granted, not spent as much time as you have.

I'm not trying to wind you up, I'm actually trying to wind you down. I've spent a lot of my earlier life on futile arguments that didn't improve my life at all. I fell out with one neighbour over noise and ended up moving over it. I fell out with another neighbour over parking that ended up escalating to a whole new level of ridiculous tit for tat. As I've got older I've realised that it's best to pick our battles. I'm genuinely trying to stop you wasting emotional energy on the shit I wasted it on.

The neighbour I fell out with over parking, I still live next door to. We're still not the best of friends, but I think it's fair to say we're both embarrassed over some of the stuff we ended up doing to each other and have at least the appearance of being friendly neighbours. Honestly, don't start battles with neighbours. You'll thank me for this advice one day I promise.

I could of written this post myself. Our neighbour smokes in the back garden throughout the year. During the winter it's fine and doesn't effect us but come the warmer weather - our whole house stinks. The kids are playing in the garden and it's just a foul smell. Our windows are open and we can smell it in our house!! It's so annoying. I agree you should say something. I have and they apologise and then just keep doing it 🤷🏻‍♀️

Can you move?

Not awkward at all. I thought it would be. But I wasn't saying don't ever, just asking if they minded not for a short while whilst the little one played.

Or maybe just leave people alone and mind your own business?

Everything I’ve found says that secondhand weed smoke is really dangerous to children

More dangerous than every day pollutants?
I get the smell is horrible to some people and of course you would not be unreasonable to at least tell them its bothering you but unless you move to an isolated place with no neighbours and dont take your child out in public, theres no way to keep her away from smoke.

You'll just have to live your life as best you can around it.
Police will not be interested in a nice couple smoking a few joints in their garden.

Where have you read that? It's outside. Maybe you live in a much nicer area than me, but since being quite young (which was a very very long time ago) I've smelled weed whilst out and about in parks, towns and even in shops when I could smell it on people. You have to be realistic, people smoke both weed and cigarettes. And cigars and pipes for that matter. You can't expect everyone around you to stop doing these things.

Do you worry so much about traffic pollution, plastics, pesticides in our food chain, the fact our water is full of chemicals, there's additives and shite in so many things we consume daily, we breathe in the shit from our cleaning materials. I could go on and on. You have to put things in perspective. Don't sweat the small stuff.

They're smoking it in the kitchen though, presumably with the door/window open when the weather's bad. Realistically, they're probably not going to stop. The problem is that we live in such close proximity to others that there's lots of things that have the potential to be annoying. Noise, parking, cooking smells, pets, just daily life. Weed smells are probably quite low down on most peoples list of what constitutes anti social behaviour.

The concentration will be minute. If you have a gas hob, or if anyone in the neighbourhood has a wood burner, or if you are anywhere near a main road, your DC will be exposed to far, far more pollutants from that.

You can ask them to move to the end of the garden, or outside the front door. Don’t mention the weed, just say when you have windows open it draws smoke into your house, and would they mind relocating.