Residents of a liberal city in Missouri have been complaining to officials that it stinks of cannabis everywhere they go. 

In Rock Hill, Missouri, a small city with a population of around 4,700 in the St Louis metropolitan area, the number of complaints about cannabis odor shot up in the second half of 2025. 

The city received 99 complaints about stinky weed between April and December of last year. Rock Hill's city administrator Garrett Schlett told the St Louis Post-Dispatch the number represents a significant uptick from previous years. 

Missouri legalized medical marijuana use in 2018, and recreational use was legalized in late 2022. 

In 2021, Missouri-based cannabis company Proper Brands opened a facility in Rock Hill's Industrial Court, which is where the stench that residents have been complaining about originates. 

Proper Brands' 60,000 square foot warehouse cultivates marijuana plants and manufactures a variety of cannabis products. 

According to the company's CEO, John Pennington, the strong odor inside can escape and be carried by wind when employees leave or exit the warehouse. 

And the wind takes the odor far. Schlett, the city administrator, said he and others can sometimes smell it at city hall, which is about half a mile from the warehouse. 

He also said the city has received complaints from condos on McKnight Road and from Tilles Park, which are about 0.5 miles and 1.5 miles from the warehouse, respectively.  

Nancy O’Reilly, a resident who has lived in one of those condos for more than eight years, told KSDK that the smell has become a more frequent problem. 

'It smells like skunk weed, there's no other way to describe it,' she said. 'It can be really thick on some nights, depending on the way the wind is.' 

'We would sit at the pool all summer, and we could smell it all summer long,' O'Reilly added. She also complained that her realtor told her the smell is affecting her property value. 

Pennington emphasized to the St Louis Post-Dispatch that the smell does not have any adverse health effects and that 'We’ll never have the elimination of the odor. It’s just the nature of it.'

'We understand the concerns. What we’re doing is very compliant and very safe,' the Proper Brands CEO added. 

But there have been so many complaints recently that the city created a dedicated email address to receive them. Officials have asked that residents say where and at what time they were able to smell marijuana. 

Rock Hill's municipal code is clear on the requirements for odor containment. 'All marijuana facilities shall be equipped with odor control filtration and ventilation systems to prevent odors of marijuana from leaving the premises,' the code says.  

'No odor shall be detectable by a person with a normal sense of smell at any point outside the property boundary of the facility.'

Lisa Cox, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that the department is investigating whether Proper Brands is in compliance with state marijuana regulations in light of the complaints. 

Pennington said his company's warehouse is fitted with an air filtration system and has installed carbon air filters and air scrubbers around the building to mitigate the smell.

He also said the company employs environmental engineers and hygienists who give recommendations on how to improve air quality, which goes above and beyond state regulations.

Schlett said that the city has consistently received complaints since Proper Brands opened its Rock Hill facility in 2021. 

Those complaints would then be passed on to the company, which would change its air filters, improving the problem temporarily. 

In May, Proper Brands sent representatives to the city's Board of Aldermen to explain the company's odor mitigation efforts. 

But for reasons that are unclear, the strength and frequency of the smell have only gotten stronger over the past year, according to some residents. 

Jennifer Fraley, a bartender and manager at Trainwreck Saloon, which is around the corner from Proper Brands' warehouse, is one of those residents. 

She told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that the smell is most pronounced in the morning and when the weather is humid. 

She also said, however, that most customers do not seem to mind, especially younger folks, most of whom smoke marijuana. 

Rock Hill officials have invited representatives from Proper Brands to another Board of Aldermen meeting in early February to discuss why the odor persists and what steps the company is taking to address the problem.