Washington, D.C. Woman Wins Legal Battle: Her Neighbor Can No Longer Use Medical Cannabis in His Own Home

This landmark precedent is important for anyone who uses medical marijuana

MarijuanaPhoto byWesley GibbsonUnsplash

A Washington, D.C. resident won a landmark legal victory this week that will bar her neighbor from using medical marijuana in his own home. The surprising ruling was made by D.C. Superior Court Judge, Ebony Scott.

Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd, 75, the victor in this lawsuit, claimed that the smell of marijuana coming from her neighbor, Thomas Cackett's home, was a "nuisance and harmed her health." The judge ruled that while Ippolito-Shepherd could not prove that she was entitled to damages, she did show that the cannabis smell emanating from her neighbor's house was indeed a nuisance. As a result, Cackett was ordered by the judge to stop smoking cannabis in his home.

Scott said that Cackett is permitted to buy marijuana but “he does not possess a license to disrupt the full use and enjoyment of one’s land.” Cackett is licensed to use marijuana medicinally.

“Indeed, the public interest is best served by eliminating the smoking nuisance and the toxins that it deposits into the air, toxins that involuntary smokers have no choice but to inhale,” Scott wrote in her decision.

Ippolito-Shepherd asserted in her claim that Cackett "'smokes marijuana 24/7' and that the 'foul and pungent odor enters and permeates (her) home, making her violently sick ...'"

As a result of this order, Cackett is restricted from smoking cannabis on his property or within 25 feet of Ippolito-Shepherd's residence. This decision is entering uncharted waters and it'll be interesting to see how this affects cannabis users in the future.

“It’s a big win from the public health perspective because it’s setting a precedent for all the people that are in similar situations,” Ippolito-Shepherd, who represented herself in the case, said.

Cackett said that he uses medical marijuana for pain relief and that he doesn't smoke all day long. He said that he takes eight to twelve puffs at night after a long shift at his job as a restaurant manager. “I am not Snoop Dogg,” he said during the trial.

Ippolito-Shepherd claims that she has suffered many health issues, including insomnia since she began noticing the smell coming from her neighbor's apartment. Cackett and his landlord who also lives on the property, have denied any responsibility for Ippolito-Shepherd's health problems.

Ippolito-Shepherd’s attorney argued that the fumes from the smoke were damaging her property and “are powerful and frequent enough that Ms. Ippolito-Shepherd cannot meaningfully use and enjoy her home.”

The issue of the smell of marijuana, which has a notoriously pungent odor, is becoming more prevalent now that cannabis is becoming more mainstream and is being legalized for medicinal and recreational purposes. It's also a gray area legally as marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Public health experts have said that marijuana smoke may have some of the same toxins and carcinogens as secondhand tobacco smoke. Unfortunately, since marijuana is still a Schedule I drug, there has been little research done on the drug and how it affects the human body.

A Schedule I drug means that the drug is highly addictive and has no medical use. Cannabis advocates are trying to get the federal government to change the Schedule of cannabis so that it may be researched more thoroughly.

On Tuesday, Dale Gieringer, who leads the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and Paul Armentano, the deputy director of NORML, said that long-term exposure to marijuana smoke has not been linked to serious respiratory ailments as researchers have found with tobacco smoke.

Ippolito-Shepherd said since she filed her case, she has gotten many calls from others seeking to bring similar claims.

Many cannabis activists say that the best way to solve this problem is to expand public use areas for marijuana smoking as was done with tobacco when businesses and restaurants stopped allowing cigarettes to be smoked inside.

Adam Eidinger, a Washington-based cannabis-rights activist who led the charge to legalize marijuana in D.C., said the issue of cannabis smokers bothering their neighbors “will go away tomorrow” if District leaders would legalize its public use.

He supports having reasonable guidelines to regulate smoking in public places — such as requiring people to smoke a certain distance from business entrances or from schools and children — but said it should not be outright banned.

“Hopefully this is a wake-up call for cannabis smokers that they should be fighting for outdoor common use spaces and social use locations,” Eidinger said.