|
Post by kds on Mar 29, 2024 15:11:54 GMT
On July 1, 2022, recreational marijuana officially became legal in the State of Maryland. This was a law that I supported and voted for. In fact, I still support it.
But....
For the love of God, the entire Baltimore area reeks of weed now. And, I'm not the only one who's noticed this. Not long ago, the Baltimore County Executive released a statement basically saying, "Just because marijuana is legal now doesn't mean you can do it everywhere."
I like to have some drinks on the weekends, but I can't go walking down the street with a beer in my hand. Hell, we have promenades littered with bars, but you can't walk the promenade with a drink.
And, even if I did, you're not doing to be able to smell my beer five blocks away.
With all the data that we have about the harm of smoking, why in the hell aren't these people choosing edibles? At least you can get high without that stench in the air.
I've posted before about how I find "weed culture" to be somewhat annoying, but I honestly don't care if you want to partake. But, for Christ's sake, do it legally. And, what really scares me is when I smell it while driving around. Not driving around a neighborhood, but on a highway where the smell of weed shouldn't be billowing.
If you must light up, do it at home.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Mar 29, 2024 15:28:45 GMT
I could have written the same thing, more or less, and so I'd sign my name to that letter.
Minnesota legalized usage in 2023--though they still haven't set up the dispensary system yet, so it's not legal to sell or buy, other than edibles and beverages with limitations on potency. A typical rollout by government, not really thought-through and full of loopholes.
But beginning around the pandemic, I started noticing exactly what you're talking about: the smell of weed becoming increasingly common. It was either decriminalized or de-emphasized within Minneapolis, I want to say in 2020. (There were a lot of "nuisance" type laws that either were revoked or ignored starting then in the name of racial equity.) If I'm not mistaken, they even passed some sort of guidelines that police were not to search cars even if they smelled weed after traffic stops. Explain that for me...
And it was immediately obvious. Walking around the neighborhood, I'd catch a whiff of it from passing cars. If it were the other way around, I wouldn't really think much about it: if I'm driving and you're walking, while it's not ideal for you to smoke it in public, at least you're not in a vehicle that could double as a deadly weapon. But when I'm walking and you're driving?!? I don't like it one bit.
Like you, I support the legalization. And I partake in it myself, though I'm a lightweight and would never drive after having done so. But I don't like it being so prevalent in public, and especially not by people driving.
(I realize this might just be middle-aged me becoming a curmudgeonly old man, and that 21-year-old me probably would have laughed his head off at me. But oh well. Sometimes older really is wiser, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is truly not cool.)
|
|
|
Post by kds on Mar 29, 2024 16:22:05 GMT
That's true. I did notice the smell a bit during the start of COVID, before it became legal. But, it was nothing compared to what it is now.
I smoked it a little when I was in my early 20s, and got away from it. Since we now have dispensaries, I've tried it a couple times here in gummy form. But, maybe I've gotten the wrong strain, as all it really did was make me a little groggy and sleepy. And, to be honest, I'm too lazy to go research the strains I should use to get the kind of high I want.
|
|