Neighbours smoking cannabis

[mena51]

Hi I would really appreciate some advice.

My neighbours have been smoking weed daily for the past few months. It comes into my flat and smells so pungent. Sometimes opening the window helps but sometimes it ends up letting the fumes in.

Initially I was willing to ignore it, thinking it was an occasional thing. Unfortunately they smoke it all day, every single day. Most mornings I wake up to it, one time it went on from 9pm to 2am. I am so affected by this to the point where I don't want to come home after work because I know it will stink.

I cannot move because I've recently bought this place. I've not spoken to them directly because a)I don't know who they are and b)I don't see them stopping at my request because they are such heavy users.

I've spoken to their landlord who doesn't seem that fussed. What can I realistically do here? I've thought about environmental health and calling 101, but will that actually help? Actually so depressed about this.

there's not much point in speaking to them as they won't be cutting down their smoking.

How is the smoke getting into your home?
Try leaving a diffuser on?
Incense sticks when you're home?

I was going to suggest a diffuser in the rooms where the smell comes in and burn some lightly scented candles when you are at home.

You're not the first poster on here who has said the smell seeps through the walls. I honestly can't imagine what sort of walls are so fragile that the smell coming in keeps you awake until 2am. Can you smell their cooking through the walls, or they yours?

I do feel sorry for you but don't know what you can do. Reporting them to anyone will result in nothing. If you can be friendly with them, perhaps suggest they use a room that doesn't join one of yours, to smoke in or that they make hash cakes or use a bong.

My absolute shithead of a neighbour used to smoke his stupid weed in the stairwell of the block, I'm second (and top) floor so used to get the full wafted experience straight through my door every night (ground and first floor flat entrances are behind fire doors). I was literally fantasising about setting him on fire or just putting a hose on him when the housing association came out and put no smoking signs up, he hasn't done it since. Is this an option for your block?

Yeah the smell definitely gets into neighbouring apartments. We have it here too in our block and in other blocks on the estate. Dunno if it's through the walls or gaps under front doors or through vents in adjacent windows but if you're next door to a toker you can smell it.

They probably won't stop if they're that much of a stoner, the police definitely won't be interested and if the landlord isn't either then I don't know what you can do.

I do sympathise though as it's fucking horrible.

Why not just speak to them? Ask if they could try a less smelly way of indulging their habit? There are varieties of cannabis and ways of smoking that don't smell so bad.

Oh and when I say "you can smell it" I mean "when you walk into a room in your own flat, that room smells of weed".

I think it's worse in apartment blocks than in adjacent houses because you're all on a level with interconnected walkways and stairwells etc. It's more like having someone in your own property in the next room smoking than having a next door neighbour smoking.

I have exactly the same issue and am trying to sell my home because of it

It’s definitely worth your trying to speak to them (maybe they could smoke in another room/vape?)

Try to seal air vents, cover floor (eg carpet); and hopefully will be less of an issue with winter,. I have an air purifier which helps a bit but doesn’t work miracles

Surprised re landlord: it’s illegal activity. Your other option is crimestoppers (anonymous) or police (eg if driving under influence)

Thanks all. I've spoken to the factor for our building but unfortunately they didn't think they needed to be involved. All the homes are privately owned in my building so nobody for me to go to really.

@DespairingHomeowner
Can I ask what you've tried so far? I presume nothing has worked? I'm so sorry it's resulted in you selling. Why should we suffer to accommodate their antisocial behaviour...it is unbelievable.

@HappyTuesdays
I live in an old tenement block so maybe more prone to smells escaping through. The landlord was surprised that I could smell it and probably thought I was over exaggerating.

This is becoming more and more of a problem for Mumsnetters judging by the amount of threads in the last few months.

But there really is nothing you can do other than speak to them and even then, they're unlikely to stop.

The police do nothing unless they're growing or dealing and it's becoming almost as popular as alcohol, as a drug of choice.

It's a nasty horrible smell but then again, so is a lot of food smells that seep through adjoining walls, so my (albeit fairly unhelpful) advice, is to try to mask it as you might try to mask unwanted cooking smells.

I've been looking up 'ways to use marijuana without neighbours smelling it' and you'd be amazed at the number of links!

Apparently the smell is minimised (and the effect as good if not better than a joint), if a bong is used. The bong must be cleaned properly after use or that will smell bad but my point is, it will stop smells wafting through wall cavities.

I'm going to buy myself a bong. I don't smoke tobacco, gave it up years ago but would like some weed occasionally.

@WorraLiberty it's not just on Mumsnet. Our community Facebook page regularly has posts about this issue. We are all in apartments, mostly privately owned. Now that police are turning a blind eye more people are doing it, but it's still frowned on to do it in communal garden areas so people are chuffing away in their flats fairly freely. Really I think the answer is to legalise and properly regulate ie require these folks to fit filtration systems at their own expense.

But because it's still technically illegal in the meantime there's not much we can do.

I can assure you that the effects are much longer lasting and problematic than occasional brief cooking smells which apartment owners do ofc also get. Largely because most people don't cook strong smelling food continuously for eight hours at a time which is how long a stoner can loll around stinking the place up for especially on a weekend.

@jessstan2 you sound like a responsible and caring neighbour and so in that spirit for the sake of those around you, I would suggest you install a filtration system.

Using a bong will really not cut it. And yes, your neighbours will know who is stinking out their apartments and communal areas, and will view you accordingly. Trust me on this.

The thing is, aside from the smell giving me a headache, I sometimes worry about breathing in the fumes.

As I type they are still smoking away, it's been about 4 hours now. Does anyone need to smoke weed constantly for hours at a time? Apparently the occupants work in education and the NHS??

@jessstan2

I'm going to buy myself a bong. I don't smoke tobacco, gave it up years ago but would like some weed occasionally.

Honestly even if it's once a week I wouldn't mind so much.

I worried about it too. There have been studies that indicate second hand intoxication is possible in enclosed spaces with no ventilation. I always tried to tell myself that that meant it didn't apply but ofc an apartment in winter with the windows shut is pretty much an enclosed space. I don't think there's been any studies about stoner apartment neighbours but when they're toking away for hours at a time as they do it certainly smells strong!

[quote HappyTuesdays]@jessstan2 you sound like a responsible and caring neighbour and so in that spirit for the sake of those around you, I would suggest you install a filtration system.

Using a bong will really not cut it. And yes, your neighbours will know who is stinking out their apartments and communal areas, and will view you accordingly. Trust me on this.[/quote]
Oh I am not going to buy a bong :-). I've been reading up and they are not safe to use, can still cause lung problems which I can do without at my age. It was just a passing thought. However it does seem that a bong does not cause the same smell nuisance to neighbours as a joint. Or joints.

I don't smoke anything and haven't for years but I know smells do not go through the walls of my house (I live in a semi and have one side adjoining me); neither does noise.

Good for you that your house is set up that way. It's different in apartments. And in single brick houses. I don't really know why you'd question that: either people can smell it or they can't.

Do you know what the real solution is to the never ending bullshit surrounding drug law? Legalise it. Right now, all drugs. It's a health issue not a criminal one. Cop on.

@PurpleTrilby completely agree. If it were legslised there would be controls on use. Right now it's a free for all.

However, knowing that doesn't help people living next to this in the meantime. It's a genuine problem. One that could be solved by tokers regulating themselves - limiting their activities to rooms away from adjoining neighbours and using sealed doors and filtration systems. They shouldn't really have to be told to do that.

Just as an example, when we had a stoner in our block, the woman next door to him had a newborn. Now all of us here could smell it and it was in all of our apartments to a degree, I was certainly concerned re second hand intoxication as above, as it really was very strong. But she was right next to him and was ofc concerned that her newborn's bedroom smelt of weed. It's alienating and coupled with the stresses of new parenthood made life difficult for her. And who does really know the effects of having all of that come into a room where you've got a brand new human with a developing brain. She moved out in the end but she shouldn't have had to. Stoner boy is also gone now and life is much more pleasant as a result. It's just very shit sharing space with people who impinge on you in this way.

I contacted the police about the same issue, a PCSO went round and spoke to them and it did improve. It doesn't have to be high crime for the police to get involved, it's a neighbourhood issue. I was worried about comeback but there was none.

@HappyTuesdays

Good for you that your house is set up that way. It's different in apartments. And in single brick houses. I don't really know why you'd question that: either people can smell it or they can't.

I don't doubt the op can smell it and I think it is bad that properties are built so flimsily that smells come through the walls.

I'm more concerned with what she can do about it and have been looking up ways. However that depends on how amenable the 'smokers' are to implementing some changes which, in turn, depends on how well she gets on with them. Some people just don't care about their neighbours and that makes things difficult.

I've had same. Thankfully neighbours only v occasionally use it. Other neughbour smokes it outside sometimes and it comes in window.

No answers but I hate it too

As I said, ime the smell doesn't come through flimsy walls but through gaps inherent in the design of modern apartment blocks - window vents, unsealed doors etc. Our block is perfectly well built. I actually hear far less noise from my neighbours than I did when living in a single brick terrace. But the block is aired and ventilated and has communal enclosed stairwells and walkways so if someone is toking we all smell it. Likewise cooking smells as worra pointed out but the difference is that these are typically more transitory than someone settling down for a good old session.

The only way around that is for tokers to take ownership of their habit and install in-apartment features that minimise nuisance to their neighbours. But they don't have to, so a lot of them don't.

The current weed limbo land re legislation actually favours stoners in this regard because none of us can require them to take socially responsible steps. As you say, it depends how amenable they are. And an audi driving teat who spends all of his leisure hours getting off his face, as was the case with our erstwhile neighbour, is not amenable. And then you're fucked.