A D.C.judge has ruled that a man who smokes medical marijuana in his apartment muststop after a neighbor complained that the odor from hismarijuana crept into her home and caused a nuisance.

Judge Ebony Scott ruled lateMonday that while Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd could not prove she is entitled todamages, she successfully made the case that the smell is a private nuisance,and Scott ordered Thomas Cackett to stop smoking. Scott said that Cackett islicensed to buy marijuana but “he does not possess a license to disrupt thefull use and enjoyment of one’s land.”

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“Indeed, the public interest isbest served by eliminating the smoking nuisance and the toxins that it depositsinto the air, toxins that involuntarysmokers have no choice but to inhale,” Scott wrote in her decision.

Cackett is banned from smoking athis address or within 25 feet of Ippolito-Shepherd’s address.

The decision is believed to bethe first of its kind and could open the door to additional legal action.

Ippolito-Shepherd told TheWashington Post on Tuesday that she believed the decision was a win for peoplelike her who have complained about the smell of marijuana since the drug hasbeen allowed in most states in some form.

The 76-year-old argued during thetrial in January that she has faced health problems including difficultysleeping ever since she noticed the smell of marijuana, which is legal in theDistrict, in her Cleveland Park home. She said the owner of the adjoining home,Angella Farserotu, has allowed Cackett, who rents a ground-level, accessoryapartment, to smoke without consequences. Farserotu and Cackett responded thatthey have no legal responsibility for Ippolito-Shepherd’s ailments.

The decision comes as complaintsover the smell of marijuana have arisen amid a boom in the cannabis industry.In a legal gray area where marijuana is stillillegal federally but sanctioned by states, users, sellers, growers and othershave operated with caution about pioneering a new frontier. Now, the concernabout the legal repercussions of the smell is another issue.

Cackett testified in court thatthe medical marijuana relieves his pain and helps him sleep after physicallyintensive shifts as a restaurant manager. He said that he smoked about “eightto 12 puffs” at night after he gets off work, typically outside if the weatherwas tolerable, and he denied smoking “all day and all night as the plaintiffalleges.”

“I am not Snoop Dogg,” he saidduring the trial.

Cackett and Farserotu did notrespond to requests for comment after the judge’s decision.

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

Since The Post first reported onher case, Ippolito-Shepherd said she has received messages from othersconsidering legal action.

Public health experts previouslytold The Post that secondhand marijuana smoke has some of the samecancer-causing toxins as secondhand tobacco smoke. However, the federalgovernment’s classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug has made itdifficult to study the long-term effects of the drug or its secondhand smoke.

Marijuana legalization proponentshave expressed concerns that restrictions on where people can smoke would limitpeople’s ability to use the drug for medical or recreational reasons. Federaldisability protections do not extend to medical cannabis patients because ofmarijuana’s federal legal status. Some California cities have weighed imposingbans on smoking in multiunit housing as complaints have arisen amid thenewfound popularity of the now-legal drug.

On Tuesday, Dale Gieringer, wholeads the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform ofMarijuana Laws, and Paul Armentano, the deputy director of NORML, said thatlong-term exposure to marijuana smoke has not been linked to serious respiratoryailments as researchers have found with tobacco smoke.

J.P. Szymkowicz, an attorneyrepresenting complaining neighbors in a similar ongoing case, saidIppolito-Shepherd’s legal win does not set a legal precedent as an appellatedecision would.

“If you’re faced with theneighbor that has a smoking problem and it’s coming into your house, you can goto them and say ‘Look we can do this the easy way or the hard way. If we go tocourt, it’s going to take money, it’s going to take time and eventually I’mgoing to win,’” said Szymkowicz, who is also an advisory neighborhoodcommissioner. “That’s the persuasive value.”

Some advocates for legal cannabisare among those sympathetic to the idea that marijuana smoke can be a nuisanceand broadly agree that part of being a responsible cannabis consumer is beingmindful of neighbors and surroundings. The best solution, they argue, is toexpand and regulate public spaces where people can legally consume cannabis,just as was done with tobacco.

Adam Eidinger, a Washington-basedcannabis-rights activist who spearheaded the proposal to legalize marijuana inD.C., said the problem of cannabis smokers annoying their neighbors “will goaway tomorrow” if District leaders would legalize its public use.

He supports having reasonableguidelines to regulate smoking in public places — such as requiring people tosmoke a certain distance from entrances or from children — but said it shouldnot be outright banned.

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

Under the District’s currentpolicy, with some exceptions for minors and those with outstanding warrants,most people cited for smoking marijuana in public must report for booking to apolice station within two weeks and can choose between fighting the citation incourt or paying a $25 fine.

Eidinger said the rule disproportionately affects residents who live in publichousing, who are subject to eviction and arrest under federallaws if caught using marijuana, even for approved medical reasons. Morebroadly, he said, the density of Washington, where many people don’t haveprivate yards or patios, makes lighting up indoors the only legal option formany.

“It’s a complicated issue whenyou people living in an urban environment and they have no lawful place tosmoke outdoors,” he said.

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