Lifestyle
How do you handle neighbors who smoke weed? And other burning weed questions answered
What should you do if your pot-smoking neighbor is stinking up your yard? Why aren’t there any legally licensed consumption lounges in the city of Los Angeles but somehow four in West Hollywood? And what do I need to know about using cannabis to combat the side effects of chemotherapy?
Those are a few of the burning weed questions that have landed in my inbox lately.
And just in time for the 4/20 high holiday on the horizon, I’ve got answers to these canna-conundrums — and more — from the pros who know.
I live in the hills on a large lot. My neighbor’s tenant sometimes smokes weed outside his abode, and the smell drifts into my yard. The back of my neighbor’s house is next to my front yard. When I walk my dogs around my yard, it smells terrible, and I have to go inside. Can I do anything? Tell the landlord or any other recourse? I’m also concerned that when I put the house up for sale in the next two years, potential buyers viewing the property might encounter the smell. — S.O.
I put this question to Stanton, Calif.-based attorneys Craig and Marc Wasserman, a.k.a. the Pot Brothers at Law. “If the landlord does not allow cannabis use, a complaint can lead to eviction. The complaining neighbor could file a nuisance complaint, which most likely will not prevail,” Craig Wasserman wrote in an email to The Times.
“However, a cannabis patient with a physician recommendation is protected under Prop[osition] 215 and can smoke cannabis anywhere, except 5 places: within 1000 feet of a school or youth facility, a no-smoking zone (such as a landlord’s rule), in a motor vehicle that’s operating, while operating a boat and on a school bus.
“We suggest the complaining neighbor politely discuss the matter, and perhaps there is a friendly resolution involving the use of [a] nice air freshener.”
In a follow-up phone call with The Times, Marc Wasserman said that in the two decades-plus of focusing on cannabis-related legal issues, the Pot Brothers at Law have fielded about a dozen phone calls tackling the thorny issue of complaining neighbors, and the brothers always recommend trying to talk it out directly — neighbor to neighbor — before getting the landlord involved and risking getting someone evicted.
“In this case, it doesn’t seem like there’s a landlord involved yet, so there’s a chance to deal with it amicably,” he said. “I had a client who had a neighbor who was smelling [cannabis smoke], and they figured out how to keep the smell away. [The answer] might be as simple as going to a different part of the house and closing the window, or maybe it’s setting up a fan to blow the smoke in a different direction. … It doesn’t need to go right to ‘I’m going to sue you’ or ‘I’m going to tell on you.’”
I’m a big wax person and I’m looking for a new brand. The biggest thing to me is lung health, so if I’m trying something new, I want to make sure it’s nice and clean. — B.B.
The world of clean weed is definitely confusing to navigate, something I discovered firsthand while researching a story about California’s clean weed scene. For those who want to consume cannabis concentrates like wax, there are basically two options for separating the gooey, sometimes-semi-solid stuff that gets you high from the plant material.
What I learned was that the most common (and cost-efficient) method uses chemical solvents — often butane, sometimes carbon dioxide or ethanol — which are later removed. (All legally sold concentrates in California are tested to ensure they’re below state-mandated levels of these chemicals.) Another way doesn’t use any solvents — only a combination of temperature, agitation and pressure. This is often what people are referring to when they talk about “clean weed.” To find concentrates made this way, look (or ask your budtender) for products labeled “solventless.”
Two of the brands whose longevity in the solventless space makes them good places to start an exploration of clean weed are Oakland-based Jetty Extracts, which got into the game in 2016, and 710 Labs, which brought its solventless expertise to the Golden State (from Colorado) the same year.
[My friend’s mom] is currently undergoing chemo and is trying to find some more ways to deal with the loss of appetite. Do you know any reliable sources? — S.B.
Unlike a lot of claims about cannabis’ therapeutic value, its ability to help with the severe nausea, vomiting and appetite loss that often accompany chemotherapy treatment is not in dispute, said Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a Boston-based physician and 27-year medical cannabis specialist. Even so, he cautions your friend (or your friend’s mom) to have a conversation with the doctor.
“It’s always important to talk to the oncologist [first] because of potential medication interactions,” Grinspoon said. “Oncologists are becoming pretty savvy about this stuff because such a high percentage of people [undergoing] chemotherapy are using cannabis.”
Assuming your friend’s mom gets the all-clear on that front, the next step is to choose an appropriate consumption method. Grinspoon said that while edibles are usually preferable (“No doctor is going to recommend the lung irritation that comes with inhalation,” he said), using a dry-herb vaporizer that heats the plant material to release the cannabinoids but doesn’t combust it may be preferable unless there are lung-health issues.
“If you feel like you’re going to barf from the chemotherapy, you won’t feel like eating an edible and you won’t want to wait an hour for an edible to kick in,” he said. “I think the one scenario you could really make the argument for inhaled cannabis is when someone’s suffering from chemo.”
Herb-wise, Grinspoon doesn’t have any specific cultivar, terpene or cannabinoid recommendations to help with appetite, only a ratio to keep in mind. “In a perfect world, people would use something that’s like 15% THC and 5% CBD rather than 22% THC and 0% CBD, but that’s not always easy to find. … It’s the THC in the cannabis [that’s key], and a little bit of CBD is helpful because it mitigates some of the side effects of the THC.”
After that, the last thing to figure out is proper dosage, which is particularly important for someone who has little to no prior experience with the plant. Grinspoon recommends a “start low and go slow” approach. Therefore, begin with a small amount, wait to see how the pot and the patient interact and then adjust as necessary. “With any drug, you want to use the lowest effective dose,” he said. “But also, if you’ve ever smoked too much, you know what that feels like, and that’s the last thing you want if you have cancer and [are undergoing] chemotherapy.”
As for the last part of your question about reliable sources (about cannabis generally or cannabis as medicine specifically), that’s not something you’re likely to find easily online. As Grinspoon put it: “Online information is so contradictory. Everything tends to fall into two camps: It’s either a miracle cure or it’s satanic lettuce.” He knows of what he speaks: These two warring camps — and how to reconcile them — happen to be the subject of his 2023 book, “Seeing Through the Smoke: An Expert Doctor Untangles the Truth About Cannabis.” Although not a resource guide per se, it’s written with the scientific rigor you’d expect from a medical doctor and is chock-full of information that will be of interest to anyone with an opinion on cannabis. I have a copy on the corner of my desk at all times and can’t recommend it highly enough.
How come cities like West Hollywood, Palm Springs and San Francisco have multiple legally permitted cannabis consumption lounges, and Los Angeles doesn’t have any? — A.T.
The OG Cannabis Cafe is one of West Hollywood’s four legally licensed consumption lounges. The city of L.A. has none.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
In full disclosure, this wasn’t a reader-submitted question but one I’ve been asked dozens of times over the last couple of years. It’s one that crosses my mind every time I write about a new consumption lounge opening in West Hollywood, which, despite being a city of just 1.9 square miles, is now home to four (with a fifth in the works), or visit places where public on-premises pot puffing is permitted, from cities (San Francisco and Palm Springs) to small towns (Ukiah and Philo) in California.
So why not L.A.? Are there plans to allow consumption lounges to open in the city eventually? And, if so, what might the timetable look like?
“The City of Los Angeles has a saturated cannabis market with thousands of noncompliant entities,” Mayor Karen Bass’ press secretary Clara Karger said in an emailed response to my inquiry. “The priority of the Department of Cannabis Regulation is on supporting existing businesses, especially social equity partners and helping more businesses come into compliance. Additionally, with the potential for more input from Sacramento regarding food service in consumption lounges, it may be too early for the City to be able to draft a policy for this business model.”
In other words, blame it mostly on L.A.’s illegal pot shop problem — and a little bit on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s October 2023 veto of a bill that would have allowed for on-site sales of food and beverages at consumption lounges, the latter of which seems to have been solved — legally — by at least two of West Hollywood’s consumption lounges that also serve food. (The workaround involves keeping the food and cannabis concerns as separate business entities. At PleasureMed, for example, the kitchen is in an entirely different — but very close by — building.)
Karger didn’t offer a timeline, but she really didn’t have to. Anyone familiar with the L.A. cannabis scene will tell you that if the opening of legal consumption lounges is contingent on getting the rest of the city’s pot problems fixed first, Vatican City seems more likely to open a weed lounge before L.A. does.
Burning Questions?
Are you a cannabis consumer with a burning question about the wide, wide world of weed — dispensary visits or otherwise?
Then fire off an email to me at adam.tschorn@latimes.com. If I can’t answer it, I’ll find someone who can.
Are psychedelics the next big thing?
Psychedelics include the drugs LSD, magic mushrooms, peyote, and often ketamine and MDMA too, among others. And some of these drugs have a history of spiritual practice spanning millennia. Then many of these drugs became synonymous with hippies and 60s and 70s counterculture. But now, psychedelics have new cheerleaders: tech bros and CEOs. So why the rebrand?
To get into it all, Brittany is joined by Maxim Tvorun-Dunn, PhD candidate at the University of Tokyo, and Emma Goldberg, business reporter at the New York Times, to discuss what it means that these drugs are getting championed – and sometimes financially backed – by the tech elite, and how might that affect our culture’s relationship with psychedelics.
This episode originally aired on March 24, 2025.
Interested in hearing more of Brittany’s series “Losing My Religion?” Check out these episodes:
Goodbye, church… Hello, Wellness Industrial Complex!
Am I a god?! Why “manifesting” your reality is easier than ever
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Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluse
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This episode was produced by Liam McBain. It was edited by Neena Pathak. Our Supervising Producer is Cher Vincent. Our Executive Producer is Barton Girdwood. Our VP of Programming is Yolanda Sangweni.
Twenty-five years ago, Grammy-winning singer Bilal released his debut album, “1st Born Second,” a seminal body of work that fearlessly weaves together the worlds of jazz, hip-hop and neo-soul for a sound that was fresh at the time and still holds up today. With the leading single “Soul Sista,” the album featured vocals from the likes of Common and Yasiin Bey along with production from Dr. Dre, Raphael Saadiq, the Soulquarians and the late J. Dilla.
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Earlier this month, Bilal celebrated the anniversary of the album at the Blue Note in Hollywood with four sold-out shows. I caught up with him backstage before the first show on Night 1.
A couple months ago you popped out during Talib Kweli’s show at the Blue Note Los Angeles, but this is your first solo show here. How are you feeling?
It’s been nostalgic because I’m doing the 25th anniversary show here, so we’re doing music from my very first album. [As I’ve been] putting this show together, I’ve [been] listening back to that music so it just takes me back 25 years ago so it’s a funny feeling, but it’s cool. [Laughs]
You were 21 when you released your debut album, “1st Born Second.” What was going on in your world at that time?
When I released that album I was just a wild young kid who wanted to change music or bring my approach to the music. I had a lot of concepts coming from jazz school. I was like a college rebel kid. I hated everything. I was like a musical snob. I wouldn’t say a musical snob, but yeah, I was. [Laughs]
And that’s OK.
I was just very ambitious back then. I knew what I wanted to do as a musician and I was just very happy to be doing it.
I read that you used to challenge your teachers a lot in high school and college.
Oh yeah, man. I come from Philadelphia and I’ve been in front of people singing since I was 4 years old, so by the time my album came out, I was already like “I want to do this. I know how I want to do that. I want to be a producer. I want to get this done.” I already had music, materials and songs. So coming from a jazz standpoint, I had some strong opinions of who I wanted to be and music school was just my stepping stone — my way out of the house.
When you reflect on the impact of “1st Born Second,” how does it make you feel?
That it was an honest expression and it’s exactly what I wanted to do. I set out to make timeless music. One of my favorite musicians, especially around that time, was Miles Davis. I would read his autobiography all the time and his whole thing was affecting the music, affecting the listener, really approaching it to challenge the listener as well as challenging yourself. To make an affect in the world. So when I can hear it and everybody says, “I’m still checking this s— out now,” I’m just like wow. That’s what I wanted to do, make something that outlived me — really.
In 2024, you released two bodies of work: “Live at Glasshaus” and “Adjust Brightness,” which was your first album of new music in eight years. Why was this the right time and how did they each come together?
Everything came together naturally even from the live album. I was set to do something and when we were putting everything together, I started making phone calls that week. I knew Common would be in town because he was doing Broadway at the time. Then I called Rob [Glasper] and he was in town and we all were like ‘Let’s call Ahmir,’ [Questlove] and I was like [Crosses fingers] ‘cause I knew he was doing a show too over at the Fallon show. So we set up a time where everybody was free and made it happen. It was a natural, magical kind of a vibe.
In February, you were a part of a powerful tribute for late singer D’Angelo at the Grammys. How did it feel to be a part of that moment and to celebrate the legacy of someone you came up with?
It was surreal. I was outside of my body. As a kid I was always able to do that, so in those situations, I just jump out my body.
You seem like the type of artist who is always creating. Are you working on anything right now that we’ll be able to hear soon?
I kind of move naturally. I don’t try to force it, but I have been in a creative space so hopefully the creative gods pour into me sooner. But I don’t beg. Everything has to be natural.
I know you’ve taken up painting recently. Outside of music, what are some things that have been keeping you grounded and excited lately?
I’m a lover of mad stuff. I love books. I like history. I like philosophy and I’ve been getting into a lot of Zen meditations. Concepts about clearing the mind and being present. I also love kung fu. The concepts of everything, you know. I’m a Virgo.
After a long winter, readers look to summer for a respite — an opportunity to sink into stories that are magical, mysterious and memorable. If some downtime is in your plans, we have some reading to suggest.
Our book critics have previewed what’s coming to the library and bookstores this summer. Here’s what they are most looking forward to reading — and seeing you read too.
Water in the Desert: A Pilgrimage by Gary Paul Nabhan
I love books that explore nature through a sociocultural lens. Lebanese American Gary Paul Nabhan’s new book traces the story of his unusual life. Nabhan grew up along Lake Michigan’s southern dunes and was negatively singled out as a student with “disabilities.” He found his path through ecology, poetry, travel, studying Indigenous Mexican communities, becoming an Ecumenical Franciscan brother and exploring his own ancestry — all of which shape his view that Earth is “the original scripture.” An ethnobotanist, Nabhan was awarded a MacArthur “genius grant” for “insights into the relationship between culture and land.” I can’t wait to read this book. (June 2) — Martha Anne Toll
Muñeca by Cynthia Gómez
Natalia Fuentes has a plan. Violeta, the only child of the Miramontes family and the last in a long line descended from Spanish settlers and Mexican rancho owners, is magically trapped in her own body, and Nati is going to break her out. For a fee, of course. With the help of a doll, she finds a way to communicate with her client, and an unexpected romance sparks between them. But she also attracts the attention of the person who cursed Violeta, and they would do anything to stop Nati from interfering. This gothic horror tale touches on colonialism and colorism, queerness and feminism, generational trauma and familial curses. It’s at once romantic and frightening. We may be only just heading into summer, but this one is already in my top 10 for the year. (June 2) — Alex Brown
The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
Whenever I encounter a belted kingfisher here in coastal Virginia, my spirits rise as I gaze at a bird with a spiky mohawk and an attitude to match. My summer nonfiction reading will kick off with The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by nature writer Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris, which celebrates the lives of declining or endangered birds from kingfishers to avocets, nightingales and yellowhammers. Though British species remain the book’s focus, the joys of bird-watching span the globe, as does this pair’s invitation to revel in and protect the multispecies worlds of which we humans are one part. (June 9) — Barbara J. King
Earth 7 by Deb Olin Unferth
I discovered Deb Olin Unferth’s work years ago via her flash-fiction piece “Likable,” which became a staple on my syllabi. Years later, and now firmly a fan, I was thrilled to learn about her forthcoming novel, Earth 7. A story about a decimated future Earth and those working to collect DNA samples from its past in order to rebuild it, the novel is also about love — between two people, yes, but also the broader, more universal love their work entails. After all, preservation of what was and hope for what will be are both acts of immense care for the world. (June 9) — Ilana Masad
Twenty Minutes of Silence by Hélène Bessette, translated by Kate Briggs
This riveting translation at once slays and reinvents the mystery genre. Set in an affluent villa in Manche, France, this 1955 “poetic novel” reconstructs the clashing narratives around the 20-minute interval between a patricide and the arrival of the police. The titular concept of silence, purportedly about the accomplices’ erasure of evidence, in fact represents a linguistic and structural red herring. The articulate, seemingly uncounseled testimonies of the deceased’s adulterous wife and abused son, along with biased speculations by the chief inspector, his deputy, the journalists and the bookseller, are replete with operatic revelations. (July 14) — Thúy Đinh
Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden
Tillie Walden’s long-anticipated Charity & Sylvia is a graphic biography in five parts, tracking the love story of two women who openly lived together for 44 years in Weybridge, Vt., in the 1800s. Walden builds on an archive of letters, journal entries and various biographical material to offer this moving portrait told in vignettes, most captured as delicately drawn, copper-tinted, nine-panel comics. Family affairs, religious musings and intimate scenes between the two women are set against the backdrop of a young country, and state, moving through constant, and colossal, transformation. The effect is a slow, dense, contemplative read — a rare gem of a book. (June 16) — Tahneer Oksman
Names Have Been Changed by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
There have been a slew of entertaining novels in the past few years about average people stumbling into criminality — think Kirstin Chen’s Counterfeit and Nina McConigley’s How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder, to name just two. But I’m especially looking forward to Names Have Been Changed. Ophir, the Singaporean protagonist, is on the run from the law for her involvement in a money-laundering scheme, and she podcasts about it from an undisclosed location. This picaresque is off to a rocking start, the first-person narration is charmingly self-effacing, and the story promises depth as well, exploring the emotional toll of being a fugitive. (June 23) — Leland Cheuk
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
Paul Tremblay has made a career out of reinventing himself as an author with every novel, and in his upcoming Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep, he does it yet again. The book is a creepy and unexpectedly humorous science-fiction romp about a young woman who takes a job using a cellphone/remote control to pilot a man in a vegetative state from California to the East Coast while the man goes through a surreal nightmare. A master storyteller, Tremblay’s b(l)ending of genres here truly is a perfect beach read. (June 30) — Gabino Iglesias
Country People by Daniel Mason
I so loved Daniel Mason’s North Woods, which spans four centuries in the life of a Massachusetts house, that I’m eager to read whatever he writes. Country People is quite different. His first contemporary novel spans just one year — the length of a visiting professorship that brings Kate and her family from California to Vermont. The hope is that her husband will finally finish his long-overdue dissertation on Russian folktales, but instead he gets pulled in by some colorful locals and a bizarre, fantastical legend. It’s apparent from a quick peek that Mason has fun exploring marriage, friendship, parenthood and the beguiling allure of storytelling and fantasy in this upbeat romp. (July 7) — Heller McAlpin
An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton
An Infinite Love Story is a sweeping romantic drama with a touch of magical realism from the bestselling author of The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes. Chanel Cleeton is one of my auto-buy authors — and I was hooked on this new book immediately. Cleeton’s ability to pull readers in quickly and deeply through her storytelling makes her a go-to author for an immersive reading experience. Set during the Space Race of the 1960s, this story follows the wife of an astronaut who is lost in space, who refuses to believe her husband is gone forever. Vivian and Joe’s love is unforgettable, and so is Cleeton’s writing. She had me from the dedication. (July 7) — Denny S. Bryce
The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders
After winning the LA Times Book Prize for her story collection Company, expectations were running high for Shannon Sanders’ first novel. A playful and poignant intergenerational saga about a haunted farm in which ancestors watch over and critique the living for posterity and entertainment, The Great Wherever leaps over that bar. The story pays tribute to the lasting legacy of Sanders’ ancestors (land that’s been in the family for a century), while creating something inventive and new. From an undead perspective, haunting is believably bittersweet; it’s “better than the best reality TV,” but “lesser, of course, than the thrill of both seeing and being seen.” I was hooked from the first sentence. (July 7) — Carole V. Bell
Data Empire: The Power of Information to Organize, Control, and Dominate by Roopika Risam
Data centers have been making me anxious for a while, largely because of the environmental impacts — the massive draw on the electrical grid, the millions of gallons of clean water they require for cooling, the massive carbon footprint. The harm caused by data center infrastructure is only part of the problem, though. Roopika Risam’s newest book, Data Empire: The Power of Information to Organize, Control, and Dominate, explores “how data has always been the seed of power,” tracing its centrality from Mesopotamia to today. A book that promises not to just show how empires have collected and weaponized data over the ages, but also how we can resist, is an easy must-read for me. (July 14) — Ericka Taylor
Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast by Pamela Colloff
I have been a fan of Pamela Colloff’s investigative journalism since 2018, when ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine published a narrative feature on junk forensic science. Her first book builds on her 2019 feature about a con artist who became one of America’s most prolific jailhouse informants. Despite his reputation as a liar and grifter, prosecutors were all too willing to believe the “useful” stories he spun — including about defendants who were ultimately sentenced to death. Unfolding in cinematic detail, Catch the Devil offers a riveting and disturbing account of the potentially fatal consequences of a criminal legal system that is more concerned with securing convictions than determining the truth and delivering justice. (July 14) — Kristen Martin
Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins
I’ve been an admirer of Claire Vaye Watkins since her debut book, the story collection Battleborn, was published in 2012. As good as that book was, I was blown away by her novels, Gold Fame Citrus and I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness, both of which brought the American West to life with Watkins’ formidable wit and audacity. I can’t wait for her new novel, which follows a single mother living in an intentional community in the Mojave Desert. Watkins is known for taking risks, and she never repeats herself — I’m betting that her latest book will showcase her genius at storytelling and her love for the rugged landscape of the West. (July 21) — Michael Schaub
Dèy by Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge Danticat is an author whose work truly captures the Haitian American immigrant experience with prose that is so languid and all-consuming that one never wants to be released from its grasp. In her first novel in over a decade, she offers a beautiful exploration of migration, gentrification and political instability. The title — Dèy, the Haitian Creole word for “mourning” — immediately caught my attention, as many Americans are in this state today, for their own country. The novel introduces us to Magnolia, a successful real estate agent in Miami whose outlook on life changes after she is caught in a mall shooting. A story that allows us to reassess love and grief, Dèy is a novel of now. (Aug. 25) — Keishel Williams
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