Adjusting to a new normal in pot-soaked Washington

Washington

THE smell near the Columbia Heights Metro station on Wednesday night was unmistakable. A lit joint in hand, Tony Lee stood outside a residence talking with friends as the evening bustle passed them by, no one paying the group of men any special attention."The community I'm in, everyone engages in smoking," said Mr Lee, 34, a District of Columbia resident who runs his own small construction firm. Plus, he said, if he's not smoking, he detects the odour of other people getting high throughout the city on a daily basis anyway. "I've grown accustomed to it," he added.

This casual attitude to marijuana - and the distinctive waft that accompanies the smoking of it - seems to be the new norm in the District in the year since the city voted to legalise possession of small amounts of pot.