Are you talking about this sentence?:
The insufferable stench from the pot-houses, which are particularly numerous in that part of the town, and the drunken men whom he met continually, although it was a working day, completed the revolting misery of the picture.
The same sentence in Russian:
Нестерпимая же вонь из распивочных, которых в этой части города особенное множество, и пьяные, поминутно попадавшиеся, несмотря на буднее время, довершили отвратительный и грустный колорит картины.
In Russian he uses word "распивочные" which means "cheap places for drinking" (alcohole, of course).
English version of this sentence is almost word-by-word translation of Dostoevsky words, except the last phrase.
"completed the revolting misery of the picture." - in Russian it is "completed disgusting and sad color of the picture".
Dostoevski's Crime and Punishment ?!?
That sounds like a translation issue. "Pot house" might mean a bar or tavern, where people go to drink pots of liquor. It sounds like a colloquialism translated into another colloquialism.
If you can get you hands on a different translation, that might give you insight. (Try the library, it might have two or three different translations.)
No, it does not mean marijuana and it is not a mistranslation!
Pot-houses were cheap pubs and taverns, and Dostoevsky was describing a poor area where there were lots of taverns. So there would have been a stench of cheap alcohol, vomit, and excrement - there was no plumbing in those days!
it is not a mistranslation, but it requires a cultural context.
