From Robert Whitcomb's "Digital Diary, in GoLocal24.com
As Rhode Island, Massachusetts and some other states (if not the Feds) loosen laws against marijuana cultivation and use, pot smokers are becoming increasingly noxious neighbors in apartment and condo buildings. I have noticed the rich aroma of the stuff in some buildings and certainly on many sidewalks.
Reminder: Marijuana cultivation, sale and use are still prohibited under federal law, which presents considerable confusion in states that allow sale and use of the stuff anyway. The Feds have long looked the other way on this, fearing that the federal law is just too difficult to enforce, considering some states’ policies and that millions of people regularly smoke pot.
Non-pot smokers are being forced to inhale this psychotropic smoke, which, to say the least, is unhealthy. Of course, breathing second-hand tobacco smoke is bad for you, too, but it doesn’t affect your clarity of mind as marijuana smoke does. In some places, you can become involuntarily intoxicated.
Pot has become such a big business and tax-revenue supplier that, barring rigorous enforcement of federal laws still on the books, the problem of second-hand smoke can only get worse. And I laugh at the argument that states’ effective legalization of the weed primarily serves as a way to alleviate physical pain. Most people smoking pot just want to get mildly or very stoned for the pleasure of it, and there’s much profit and tax money to be made from the stuff.
To read an entertaining Boston Globe story on second-hand pot smoke, please hit this link.
