On a broader level, this is exactly what federalism is about - states being able to try things to experiment, without committing the entire country irrevocably.
As someone who supports legalization, it's still way too early to definitively say that. Marijuana is not a harmless substance. There will very definitely be some negative effects, and acting like it's a magical panacea will not be helpful. Marijuana addiction is very real, although it only affects a small subset of users (~9% is often quoted). There have been zero long term studies with regard to a population's lifetime health outcomes having regular access to highly potent, legal marijuana. Only time will tell, although on the net I have no doubt these negatives will balance to an overall positive.
Having said that, I'd really prefer if everyone that wanted marijuana would use the ediables rather than smoking it in various ways. Living in a state where it's legal, I absolutely detest the smell, it's smoke is even more potent and disgusting than tobacco. On the same note, I hate tobacco smoke and want use of such products to be limited to negative-draw scrubbed exhaust environments.
That mostly eliminates being forced to endure other peoples smoke more than in passing - unless your neighbors smoke heavily in their yard.
I supported various decriminalization and legalization pushes on the principle that the criminal justice system is a poor avenue for addressing things that are public health problem, which is a principle I still believe in. But I've got some considerable buyer's regret; I don't want to smoke myself, and as far as I can tell, it's shockingly common that smokers of either tobacco or cannabis are (a) pretty bad at realizing how others experience it (and how far the experience travels) and/or (b) not particularly considerate about the fact that others haven't signed up for it. It's particularly galling in living situations where people will smoke on balconies or just outside an entryway apparently heedless of the fact that smoke will travel in other people's windows; and even smoking indoors travels through both windows and ventilation systems.
For a while I thought this might be something that could be solved via education and etiquette, but there are too many entitled smokers. I don't think this is a problem that's going to be fixable without at least minor citations/fines to back up the right behavior. And we might need to see if there's a relationship with production that's neither full-on industrialized nor necessarily driven underground.
However yes, it does extend to balconies, and from a surprising distance away. I'm not kidding when I say it should be legally confined to areas which must have both negative draw (a high inward air pressure difference so that leaks go inside instead of out) and scrubbed exhaust (so that everything gets filtered out, often by water percolation to soak up the vaporized tar and other particles).
But even assuming health issues weren't in play, there might well be a case that being an acceptable neighbor involves keeping many forms of sensory exports to a minimum. Loud music can be rude. Loud music or construction projects after 9pm are rude. Storing your asafoetida on the balcony would be pretty rude too, even if it can be used to make some super tasty food. Fish in the microwave will make you unpopular at some offices. So... yeah, we can go "by this logic" if you like, it's just not where the case stops.
Edibles often take a couple hours or more to take noticeable effect which leads to overconsumption among some consumers. I'd argue that it's actually the most dangerous type of cannabis consumption because it's so easy to overconsume.
(Can't comment on the smell of smoke due to anosmia since birth!)
I live in Colorado (the first state to legalize recreational use) and I never smell weed on the streets. When I was traveling to the bay area for work (while it still wasn't legalized), everywhere I walked I would smell dank ganja. And I don't mean that as a compliment.
Terms like skunk when describing weed aren't thrown around without reason.
Here in CO most people I know that still smoke have moved from bud and use vaporizers much like e-cigarettes to "vape" concentrates.
The concentrates smell nothing like their burnt bud cousins... it smells lightly floral if at all.
I'm not so sure areas like the bay really set a proper example as you are probably smelling some shwag from the homeless dude walking down the street rather than what the legal market is providing.
Or maybe people in Colorado are just more conscientious of others.
As a side note, regarding weed smoke:
> it's smoke is even more potent and disgusting than tobacco
That's just not true. While the dankest bud might be more objectionable to the nose, most tobacco is grown in conventional soil where it is essentially a sponge for metals like arsenic and cadmium. Weed is much the same type of plant, but being grown in controlled environments in man-made soil (and often soilless growth mediums), it isn't exposed to anywhere near the same levels of toxins and therefore doesn't assimilate the same toxicity as stuff like tobacco.
If we intend to keep pot illegal, alcohol should follow.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/articl...
The latter case is not a guarantee - the potential negative effect is (IMO and through my experience) likely closer to that of coffee addiction than alcohol. The difference is weed addicts can get help for it rather than be thrown in jail - the industry is/was already there, but having it above board can allow for much better outcomes.
Anything that takes a weapon out of the hand of the “Justice system” like making it legal is a net positive.
During my visit of Portland the cashier of one the dispensaries described to me all the additional security measures they had to take including building a bank vault in the store. During tax season they have to hire private security and armed guards with armored vehicles to transfer duffel bags full of cash to the department of revenue who then penalizes them an additional fee for paying in large sums of cash. This is ironic because the department of state then has to go on a hiring spree and needs to purchase equipment to count out this massive amount of cash (probably millions once add up all the dispensaries).
Its a big waste of money since all the hires and equipment are unnecessary once you realize that 99% of all other businesses just pay via wire or check. I also can't imagine how much money is spent by the business trying to keep track of all the loose cash.
The biggest complaint I ever hear that isn't based on a non-truth is "it smells bad".
Smells bad can itself be a big deal. Some people also have migraines that result from inhaling second hand marijuana smoke. Moreover, many people don’t want to smell the stuff in their daily commute- and the smell definitely lingers longer, than say, tobacco, in an open space.
I’m not opposed to legalization, but saying that there’s no societal harm is pretty misinformed too. Seemingly minor things like ‘smells bad’ can easily make one hate cannabis.
I think an individual hating something doesn't necessarily elevate that thing to the level of "societal harm".
For example, durian smells bad. Many people hate it because of its smell. However, I've never heard somebody go on about the harm durian is causing to society.
Calling for keeping marijuana strictly illegal based on its smell is silly. Still, the smell is just as noxious as cigarette smoke to many people. I found walking around downtown Montevideo annoying. Legalization should come with some measures against smoking in public, just like those being applied to tobacco in many places around the world.
If you 'smell it' you subconsciously feel like you are forced 'smoking it' akin to involuntary second hand tobacco usage. Whether that is true or not I do not know.
As a former tobacco and former casual marihuana smoker I dislike either of these smells. I consciously quit both, both for very good personal reasons.
There are obvious health related risks to abstain smoking tobacco but for me I have autism and marihuana can make me over-sensitised and get me into a psychosis. This occurred numerous times.
Yes, there are benefits to marihuana and specifically CBD. My uncle had terminal cancer and hash oil helped him against this pain (he was AFAIK never pro-drugs or pro-marihuana before he got cancer). And there are disadvantages as well. I'm a proponent of education and regulation, just like with alcohol.
The difference however is that although such might over-sensitise someone with e.g. (undiagnosed) autism your example is not proven to be harmful for the lungs, nor does it make you stoned.
Both of these apply to a not insignificant amount of the population when it comes to perfumes and flowers too.
We should make Abercrombie cologne illegal; I sneeze at least twice when walking through the mall and sometimes get headaches.
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29487531
There are so many substances that people can take that would impair their ability to drive. Many of them are available over the counter. Alcohol is the only one that's tested directly; it's the exception, not the norm.
It's not a non-truth, its highly personal what smells good, or bad.
Why should you send someone to jail based on their smell?
You can legally cook pungent meals, burn smelly incense, slow cook meat over a stinking smoker, smoke fetid home rolled cigarettes, take one shower every month, have terribly foot fungus or a really bad case of farts.
All smelly but legal things.
Here in the Canadian town I live, you are not allowed to smoke or vape it on any public land. If you rent, your landlord has to agree to it. You can legalize it and still control it.
To be honest, the smells decreased since it was made legal. Police would tolerate it so nobody called for "pot smell". That was a bad waste of resources. Now that it's up to the landlord to enforce it, people are more willing to call.
I would never call the police on my neighbors for a smell. If I knew that someone went to jail over personal use because of me, I would feel really bad.
However, I would ring the landlord in a heartbeat if their action was not allowed in the lease.
There are tradeoffs in everything, of course, and everyone is entitled to their own choices and ambitions, and these risks don't harm everyone who tries them, but put yourself in the shoes of the friends and family that see their loved one become a burnout. There can be real and justified hate of the drug when it has measurably damaged your family.
There was an episode of South Park that addressed pot in a similar way- it is dangerous because it is so much fun you don't want to do anything else.
Brain damage in young adults.
> "Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife"
Addressing this study, it was a N=1038, cohort study that seems to only have adjusted for education. Further, there's a link on your cited article to [1], which is a response that suggests that the determining factor may have been personality, rather than cannabis use.
There are other studies that indicate a similar conclusion, but I'm not clear how it's any different than any of a dozen socially accepted factors. The developing brain is very fragile. Playing football, or not getting enough exercise, can do similar damage.
[0] http://www.pnas.org/content/109/40/E2657.full [1] http://www.pnas.org/content/110/11/E979
https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/nida-notes/2016/09/reg...
They also dislike alcohol use, especially due to drunk driving causing accidents. In the same way, they think allowing another substance to be legally consumed will increase impaired driving rates (even tho DUI is illegal).
They think alcohol being legal has made it easier for high school students to obtain it. They think the same will happen with cannabis. They don't want substances (alcohol or otherwise) near their grandkids' brains.
Alcohol has a breathalyzer test. There is no such spot test for cannabis intoxication. Which makes regulating drivers hard.
Trust me, it couldn’t get any easier for high school students to get marijuana than it currently is.
Case-in-point: me.
I'm still in favour of its legalisation but I'm not naive enough to believe there are no downsides to the substance.
I've experienced many of them myself by abusing it for years.
This does not parse.
What that analysis doesn't take into account is whether the next state to legalize marijuana will also have to deal with increased accident rates and insurance costs. This is IMO the more important question.
Also - in the states that went legal, there is an active population boom, but just as likely is being caused by tech startups. Population increases are more likely to cause an accident rate to increase.
We just won't know (for sure) if pot or jobs are the cause for the population increases. Maybe it's pot jobs?
Causation requires correlation. It's certainly not enough to prove causation, but it's actually a necessary starting point.
Speaking of driving and marijuana, I've noticed a large increase in pot smoke coming from cars in traffic since marijuana was legalized in CA. I expect some of that to come from passengers, but people driving while high is no joke.