Dope scope sniffs out illegal marijuana odour

NOW that marijuana is legal in some US states the fun police are trying to make its odour illegal. Introducing one of the most ridiculous contraptions for detecting dope yet.

This Nasal Ranger helps separate clean air from weed air to help measure offensive marijuana odours. Picture: WikiMedia Commons

NOW that marijuana is legal in some US states the fun police are trying to make its odour illegal.

That's right, police in Denver have passed a new "odour ordinance" that carries a fine of up to $2000 for people found guilty of polluting the atmosphere with the smell of the old icky-sticky green stuff, The Denver Postreported.

The new law could make it a crime to smoke marijuana in your own home if the odour wafts out onto the street.

Denver police are spending thousands of tax payer dollars investing in "dope scopes" known formally as Nasal Rangers that help them detect, "measure" (and we use that term loosely) and map marijuana smells.

The device looks like a giant megaphone, for your nose. To quote Vice Magazine"it's less of a measuring instrument and more of a tube with varying sized holes and two filters at the end".

Some of the air you inhale through the dope scope is filtered through charcoal and some isn't, basically allowing the user to measure at what level the scent becomes detectable.

Ben Siller an investigator from the Denver Department of Environmental Health told The Denver Post that the ratio of gross to clean air must be at least 7:1 for the odour to be illegal.

However, the device still relies on the cop's sense of smell, meaning that there is no base standard from which to measure the odorous offence.

The Nasal Ranger costs $1,500 and with three training courses offered by the manufacturer as well as its "Odour Track'r Program" which allows the police to store the odour inspection details along GPS coordinates on Google Earth, police departments could be spending up to as much as $3,500 for the device.

Legal experts have criticised this new ordinance as unethical and unconstitutional.

ACLU lawyer Mark Silverstein called the ordinance "a tremendous overreach, ill-advised, unnecessary and unconstitutional". Right thinking people everywhere agree.

Nobody has ever been prosecuted under the ordinance since 1994, though technically in 2012 a dog food company was fined $500 by the DEH for failing to properly vent its factory. The company sued the city for trying to turn into an industrial area into a residential area and the lawsuit was dropped.

Council President Mary Beth Susman admitted to The Denver Post that it was "hard" to legislate odour.

"Odor can be subjective," she said. "The strength that is required to register on the Nasal Ranger is something we need to look at.

"I also wonder if people will get used to the smell and the dislike of it now may change over time."

Another councilman Charlie Brown said he wouldn't like for his privacy to be violated by marijuana smoke, but recommended adults just use common sense and maturity to address the issue.

"If I was hosting a birthday party for seven-year-olds in my backyard and the neighbours' marijuana smoke was drifting over the fence, I would be concerned," he said. "The best way to prevent that is to communicate with your neighbour. The truth is creating an ordinance to prevent it is very difficult, but the council is looking at a variety of options."