Among all the problems generated by marijuana legalization, few have proved more pervasive than the smell. From Los Angeles to D.C., residents complain regularly of the reek of weed. Perhaps because of this, recent Manhattan Institute polling found that sizable majorities favor laws banning smoking in public parks, on public transit, in restaurants, and near schools.
Few cities have struggled more with the smell of pot than New York. It’s in the streets, in the parks, and even, some residents complain, in private apartments. Mayor Eric Adams has noted the pervasive stench. Air quality complaints to the City’s 311 line have surged, rising from nearly 4,000 in 2020 to almost 9,000 in 2022 and more than 7,000 last year.
But the city is not powerless to deal with the stink. In fact, while marijuana is legal in New York, smoking it in public isn’t, thanks to the city’s smoke-free air laws. A little enforcement of these rules could go a long way toward cleaning up the Big Apple’s pot-odor problem.
Veteran New Yorkers will remember that the city’s crackdown on public smoking significantly predates marijuana legalization. Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the Smoke Free Air Act in 2003, as part of his campaign against tobacco. When he left office, the ban on smoking in restaurants remained one of his most popular initiatives.
Because the city’s smoke-free air laws were passed before weed was legal, they do not explicitly contemplate marijuana. But they define smoking to include any “form of lighted object or device designed for human use or consumption by the inhalation of smoke.” The Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act, the law that legalized weed, actually expanded the number of places where smoking is prohibited, and the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has issued rules reconciling the two bills.
Under those rules, it’s illegal to smoke pot in public parks, pedestrian plazas, school grounds, public transportation, and various other locations. So why can pedestrians in Washington Square Park smell people lighting up?
The simple answer is that the rules are unenforced. It’s easy to understand why: police resources are limited, and New York’s leaders just got done arguing that marijuana enforcement is evil, racist, and socially destructive. How can they justify punishing people for smoking in public, given that weed is supposed to be such a benign, even beneficial, substance?
But all New Yorkers have an equal right to the enjoyment of public spaces. The stench of pot smoke excludes those who wish not to smell it, never mind the potential harms of second-hand smoke. That the public is so obviously unhappy with the omnipresent smell is reason enough to act.
Moreover, New York can do something without straining the NYPD or throwing smokers in prison. The provisions of the Smoke Free Air Act are enforced not by the police, but by representatives of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, or by any of a number of other designated departments, including the Department of Sanitation. Enforcement is handled through civil penalties: $200–$400 on first offense, $500–$1,000 on second offense, and $1,000–$2,000 on every subsequent offense within a year.
A burst of enforcement could target a place like Washington Square Park, where many people gather to smoke weed openly. City employees could summarily issue notices of violation to everyone present. Repeat this action for a few days or weeks, and activity would get driven down to a more manageable level, after which a single designated employee could be responsible for enforcement. As a bonus, the act would generate a nice revenue bump.
That New York has not done something so obvious, in a deliberate and clearly communicated fashion, says a lot about the politics of pot and the city’s discomfort with curbing its harms. But New Yorkers are fed up with the smell of weed everywhere. A little effort to bring it under control would be widely cheered.
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