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Comment by mvdtnz | Hacker News Reader

I live in a country where weed is still illegal. I'm not a user, but I used it heavily in my teens (which I don't recommend). In principle I'm all for legalisation - get the profits out of the hands of criminal gangs and into legitimate taxable enterprise.

In practice I have heard on podcasts based in places like Washington and California where hosts say they almost can't leave their home without being hit in the face with the stink of weed. I absolutely hate the smell of weed smoke. This is the one practical hitch in my mind. I wish that we could rely on pot smokers to be a bit more respectful to people who aren't.

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> In practice I have heard on podcasts based in places like Washington and California where hosts say they almost can't leave their home without being hit in the face with the stink of weed.

These podcasts are meant to scare people to farm engagement. I live in WA and barely smell weed (except when I myself am smoking it.) And when I do, it's usually just the scent and not clouds of smoke or anything.

I live in Northern Europe and almost never feel the smell of weed here. In my travels around the USA and Canada, it was very clear to me it's far, far more common over there.

Well it is more legal here :)

> just the scent

I think you underestimate how much weed smells to someone not used to it. Even the tiniest hint of it makes me uncomfortable.

I wish the UK had something like the smoking chambers in China where people can do what they want without affecting others too much

You may not live in the city. I smell it all the time. Regardless of whether I agree or not, its pretty prevalent depending on where you live/spend your time.

Part of living in a city is smelling a bunch of stuff you don't really want to. No need to special-case weed there heh :)

The last podcast I heard this on was Slate Magazine's Political Gabfest. Hardly the kind of publication that's trying to scare people away from weed.

You are a pot smoker yourself. You probably are so used to it that you don't realise how incredibly pungent the odour is.

I live in NYC and travel semi-regularly to both CA and WA, and this is completely overblown. You might catch a faint whiff every once in awhile, but it’s very far down on the list of annoyances a major city offers.

And no, I don’t smoke weed.

I don't think people are scared about it, it's more of an annoyance. And it's not being wildly exaggerated. In NYC nowadays it's more common than not when walking anywhere to get at least one strong whiff of weed per trip, if not multiple. It's also become quite common for people to light up in subway stations. I'm a former user who's not offended by the smell but still find it a bit annoying, for fear of it clinging to me.

> I live in WA and barely smell weed (except when I myself am smoking it.)

You're probably noseblind to it, since you smoke yourself.

idt I'm noseblind to it. When I go downtown in various WA cities I smell it more often. Often from far away / as it's fading. Since it's so rare to be exposed to actual second-hand weed smoke.

>In practice I have heard on podcasts based in places like Washington and California where hosts say they almost can't leave their home without being hit in the face with the stink of weed.

that's some severe hyperbole. you'll probably smell it on the bus if you use the bus, but weird smells are part of riding the bus. I rarely smell it at the grocery store unless someone's carrying flower in an unsealed package, it's pretty obvious in those cases

> but weird smells are part of riding the bus

They don't have to be — this is an American phenomenon.

Hahaahahahahahahah no. No it bloody isn’t mate. Jesus. Hahahaah. What a hilarious comment. Well done!

I live in UK where it’s still illegal. It used to be like once a month that I’d smell it in public, and now it’s a few times a day. I think it changed during the Pandemic? Doesn’t bother me personally but the sharp change is interesting.

At the very least, you get acclimated to the smell of cannabis much quicker then the smell of cigarettes at least in my experience. It's also becoming increasingly common to vape cannabis in America, which only has a residual smell in small, enclosed spaces with frequent use.

Legal pot taxes profits from law abiders. It doesn't get anything from crooks. They move on to other contraband if anything, or don't go out of sight if caught.

What else is a good reason to legalize?

That sounds like a technological issue. I believe people already have it in pill form?

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