A player came into this prerelease reeking of pot…8 minutes after the start of round 3, just barely missing the cut-off for a match loss.

Originally posted by Scott Marshall:

Originally posted by Brent George:

What about … Denver?
In Colorado (and probably in Oregon or Washington), public consumption is still illegal.

I can say that it was a very apparent smell for GP Denver. As far as I know, we did not have any disruption to the event from players under the influence or smoking on the grounds.

Bryan Prillaman
It's a TO issue. If the TO bestows that responsibility on you, then make the call based on what you feel is best for all players.

There isn't a wrong answer, provided he isn't causing a disturbance.

+1

This is one of many “things that can come up” that falls into approaching tournament Magic. My algorithm is this:

<Insert Problem>

1. Does the TO care? If yes, they should address it.
2. Does it disrupt the event? If yes, you should address it.
3. Does anyone else care? If yes, you should address it carefully.

Originally posted by Eli Meyer:

A player came into this prerelease reeking of pot…8 minutes after the start of round 3, just barely missing the cut-off for a match loss.

That's a tardiness issue. Whatever the reason, that's the problem to address. It's very common with smokers of any variety.

Our TO makes site-specific announcements at the beginning. One of them is,
“If you need to smoke, please go outside and around the corner to not
disturb the other patrons of this store. If you are enjoying a controlled
substance out there, please do not return.”

The strangest part of this prerelease was the player who sat for the round,
asked his opponent's permission to smoke a quick cigarette before the match
started, and then stepped out.

Originally posted by Dominick Riesland:

The strangest part of this prerelease was the player who sat for the round,
asked his opponent's permission to smoke a quick cigarette before the match
started, and then stepped out.

Did he tell a judge he was leaving? Did you grant an extension?

He did not tell me (the one judge on duty) that he was leaving. I had a
talk with him outside and there were no further issues. I extended the
match for the opponent's sake, but it turned out not to matter as everyone
(including that match) finished with time to spare.

After all, we're DCI judges, not policemen, so a smell of pot is nothing I'd ever consider to be any of my business while judging. The smell itself should almost never be a problem. The vague implication of something illegal happening may be, but that's nothing we can do anything about if it's not happening inside the store. What the player is doing outside the store may or may not be illegal, but I guess it's not upon us to try and control that.

A player delaying a match or showing up late for a match however, that's a problem we need to adress.

On Tue, Mar 24, 2015 at 10:36 AM, Jasper König
<forum-15694-fbbc@apps.magicjudges.org> wrote:
> that's nothing we can do anything about if it's not happening inside the
> store

Does the DCI/WotC have a public policy about sanctioned events
happening in locations that allow illegal activities?

Originally posted by Gareth Pye:

Does the DCI/WotC have a public policy about sanctioned events happening in locations that allow illegal activities?

Nope. Organized Play and Tournament Organizers might have discussions about the appropriateness of certain venues, but - fortunately! - we Judges don't have to worry about that.

I do have to nitpick a bit with your question, Gareth - if the activities are allowed, how could they be illegal? ;)

d:^D

I would at least check in as to whether the store itself could get in trouble. I heard that a store around my area was kicked from their location and had to move after one of the building managers or something walked in and smelled pot. Then, if the smell is strong, I'd ask them to clean up, and otherwise mostly go along with Alexander Prokos' response. Of course, I have virtually no sense of smell, so my own ability to do any of this is rather questionable :-/