Court orders DC man to stop smoking pot where his neighbor can smell it

A Washington, D.C., judge ruled that a resident must stop using medical marijuana after a neighbor complained it was disturbing her.

After a nearly three-year long court battle, Judge Ebony Scott ruled Monday night that Thomas Cackett could no longer smoke in his apartment or within 25 feet of his neighbor’s home. Scott said while Cackett has a license to buy medical marijuana, “he does not possess a license to disrupt the full use and enjoyment of one’s land, nor does his license usurp this long-established right.”

Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd first filed a lawsuit in November 2020 seeking damages caused by “negligence, nuisance and trespass to recover for the loss of use and enjoyment of a significant part of her property, and for the discomfort and annoyance in being forced to subject herself and her guests to toxic and controlled substance on a regular basis in her own home.”

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.”

In the Monday ruling, the judge did not grant Ippolito-Shepherd any damages sought, but Scott ruled in favor of the plaintiff’s injunction brought against Cackett and the property owner, Angella Farserotu.

“Cackett shall immediately be permanently enjoined from smoking or burning marijuana, in any form that emits an odor, on the premises [of his residence] or within 25 feet [of Ippolito-Shepherd’s residence],” the judge wrote.

Further, the judge ruled that Farserotu and Cackett “are to ensure that anyone occupying or visiting the premises of [their residence] are prohibited from smoking any substance on the premises.”

In D.C., possession of up to two ounces of marijuana is decriminalized for those at least 21 years old. It remains federally illegal, however, making the issue a legal gray area.