To think it’s never ok to smoke weed in the house when there are children

[Xanders]

So my next door neighbours who I cannot stand for a number of (justified) reasons smoke weed inside their house. They have 3 young children and they don’t see the problem. I had to speak to them about it because our houses are semi detached and the smell comes through to our house. We both live in social housing and the walls are like paper and the workmanship eg plaster boards cracks in walls is absolute tosh so hence the smell coming through to our house. After me and dh speaking to them several times about the weed and them ignoring our polite request to smoke it in the garden I decided to do report them to the HA. Things then settled and we had six glorious months without having to endure the foul smell but the last few weeks my neighbours have started up again. AIBU to consider reporting them again? My dh also thinks we should report to social services but I think it’s one thing reporting it to housing to which we received no back lash from our neighbours, but I can guarantee if we were to report it social services it would be a different story. Not sure what to do but all I know is i don’t want to smell that crap in my house and I don’t want my kids to have to breathe it in.

Aside from the 2nd hand smoke that I don't agree with, there's not much difference between smoking a joint and having a glass of wine.

Of course it is not okay. Report it to Housing Association, police and social services.

Police? What do you think they will do??

I knew the op would slither off when we pulled her up about the fact she knows these people are driving whilst under the influence and smoking weed around their 3 children - yet has no intention of actively doing anything about it beyond navel gazing about what to do about her irritation at the smoke here children may be inhaling

I'm fairness she isn't responsible for the actions of others, they are.

Knowledge that someone regularly drives high does come with a responsibility

To report

I just hope the dh finds a backbone and reports

Except having a glass of wine is legal.

Too many idiot smoking that stinking shit and not giving a toss about others.

@Xanders you need to report for the children's sake.

In answer to the general question, it would depend for me...

I will hold my hand up and say every now and then I will go out in my garden after my child is asleep and smoke a small joint. But that being said it's probably once every few months and I would never dream of doing it whilst my child was up and about, nor would I do it inside my house. And I certainly wouldn't get in my car afterwards, even without my child.

So yes given the specifics of your situation, its not so much smoking weed when you have children, that I think is the problem. Its the amount, the location, the time and definitely the fact they are driving around with their child in the car after doing so. That's atrocious.

Tragic, the lack of funds.

Nothing to do with lack of funds.
Social services have a remit to intervene in people's private family lives under specific circumstances and there has to be an indication that the children are actually being harmed by the care they are receiving. Not only that, to intervene above the 'voluntary/support' level that harm has to meet the threshold of 'significant' harm not just less than ideal.
there is no actual evidence that smoking cannabis in and of itself harms children in your care. Passive smoking is harmful but it's a decision that parents are allowed to make. Being stoned isn't great for parenting but it's not likely to lead to actual harm. Being drunk is much more dangerous. Some adults develop mental health issues as a result but most don't. Parents who are chronic heavy cannabis users are likely to be neglectful to an extent (probably demotivated to clean, May prioritise weed over food etc) but you have to have evidence of this rather than assuming it's the case, because much of the time it won't be. Heavy weed smokers often have a high tolerance and can smoke a lot before functioning is actually impaired.

People who call for social services to have even greater powers to intervene in people's family lives should really think about what kind of society they are advocating for.

This post is spot on. I work with parents who are under children's social care. Many smoke cannabis. For some it's a factor in poor parenting, but definitely not all. Alcohol causes way more harm for many parents we work with.

I am also of the understanding social services don't interfere over cannabis.

If we get involved because of neglect, it's very common to find there is substance misuse in the mix too. Very often cannabis and alcohol. The substance use will absolutely be addressed. However the reason for involvement is the neglect, not the substances in the first place.

And there are plenty of idiots drinking too much as well. Far more problems cause by alcohol than weed. A stoner is less likely to start drama and is only really a threat to a multipack of crisps.

NOT if the stoner in question then drives a vehicle.

Which is the case with these stoners

I completely agree OP, gummies and oil drops are the way forward.

Obviously you've never experienced having an actual nightmare neighbour, yes it's Bad those children are constantly inhaling weed but why downplay ops concerns about repercussions? You've never had a brick lobbed through your window? Your own children targeted because of it? And worse.

So much bullshit about this on this thread. Social will definitely not "do nothing" about it. I know a single dad who recently lost his daughter because of his weed smoking. It's not even that addictive but apparently it was more important to him then his own daughter

This single dad has fed you a line.

For ppl saying report to ss
They dont do anything and this happens constantly all the time in the area i live in
As wel as heroin crack use
Be thank ful someone people dnt have to see this on a daily basis in there wonderful neighbourhoods !

I work in children’s social care. So many of our families and their teenagers smoke weed. The social workers can only give advice, in my experience. The police aren’t bothered. Even when the police have attended CP meetings and weed use is mentioned it’s just talked about in a matter of fact way and the other issues are focussed on.

So much bullshit about this on this thread. Social will definitely not "do nothing" about it. I know a single dad who recently lost his daughter because of his weed smoking. It's not even that addictive but apparently it was more important to him then his own daughter
I would say there are other issues going on than just smoking weed if this happened. Possibly some sort of neglect?

I didn't hear it from him. I don't think admitting you're such a loser you put weed before your children is "a line" either.
My main point is you see a lot on Mumsnet about "social services don't do anything unless it's really really serious because they're underfunded" but it's just not true in my experience. I used to work in a school and they certainly didn't brush neglected kids under the rug due to lack of funds which is what is claimed every day on mumsnet

SS will not intervene for pot use. We had a concern about a child with other behaviour issues that were getting worse about the time he started coming in to school smelling of pot ever day. 7 years old and SS said that there were no concerns as he was clean, fed, was allowed to play, and went to school.