You’re probably right, though I dread the possibility. I cannot stand the smell, and one of the best things about moving from California to Texas was avoiding that pervasive smell being everywhere. Negative externalities of personal behavior really need to be handled better in our society. If you want pot to be legal, fine, but only inside your own personal enclosed house.
Even as a daily weed smoker myself though, it's hard not to acknowledge that a more liberal marijuana stance in a geographic location does lead to that smell being more commonly encountered when in public and out and about.
Personally I don't mind, almost the opposite, but for people who don't like the smell, obviously they feel differently. Good thing we can have different policies in different places, and people can generally, one way or another, move themselves to other places. Could be easier, but could also be way worse.
I dunno, I think it should be legalized and operation of a car or other heavy machinery while intoxicated should result in a swift and brutal public execution. Win/win. :D
But maybe I'm just a little jaded after having lived in a legalized area and almost being run down by hotboxed cars more than once.
Functionally in many places where the usage is unlawful, harmless use in people's private homes has very low risk of prosecution while dangerous or disruptive public use is still curtailed. I find it easy to sympathize with people who consider that a better tradeoff.
I strongly agree with de-federalizing any such decisions though-- your comment on freedom to move is a great one. I recently relocated to a place where it wasn't legal from one where it was, any when evaluating differential freedoms in making that decision the subject came up and I decided I probably actually preferred the restriction due to the collateral harms (although I strongly chaff at any restrictions on private activities or maintenance of your own body). I wouldn't say it was a major factor in the decision to move (other policy/economic/environmental/security matters were drivers) but for me it wasn't a reason to not make that move.
See also, cigarettes, cigars, and pipe smoking. I find those smells about 10x as offensive as smoked weed. I don't see the HN crowd coming out against tobacco despite these two being roughly equivalent in use. And that 20 ft from the door thing is a joke when it's on the sidewalk you have to walk through to reach the bus stop or your car. At least the pot smell doesn't stick to my clothes until they're washed like the tobacco smell.
Meanwhile, I smoke weed in my office, but I have a air purifier (rated for double the air flow capacity of the room) and not even my wife who works in the room next door can smell anything, and she actively despises the smell.
Sometimes you just need to find the right equipment :)
> but only inside your own personal enclosed house.
Isn't it usually illegal to smoke things like cigarettes inside rented homes, legality aside? And don't most people rent? That seems like a whole can to deal with.
Oh no, the thought of catching a whiff! No one must smoke in texas, since you know, everyone follows the law. Smoking weed only started in general with legalization. It was mythical beforehand.
Your nose is literally a special flower. What smells good to it may not to another and vice versa. I far prefer the smell of pot smoke on the sidewalk to the smell of tobacco smoke. You youngsters missed the years of indoor workplace smoking and smoke breaks with 20 smokers surrounding the office entry door. It's just another smell to you. But for those of us who lived through the bad days of smoking, it's a toxic soup, a smoke inferno hell pit we're not thrilled about revisiting right outside of our favorite restaurant. A little bit of grass burning, no big deal. A cigarette and my meal's ruined.
