Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jan 2015
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

TRAVELING STINKS

Hey, I heard you've been on the road again.

Any news?

- -Juan DeRer

Yup. I was just in Atlanta, Georgia. The marijuana scene is very 
different than what we have on the West Coast. First of all, any 
possession of marijuana can be charged as a felony.

My friends out there tell me that the Atlanta cops generally won't 
sweat you over a small amount, although you never know how it may go. 
To minimize risk, most people carry joints.

Getting caught with a pipe can lead to a drug paraphernalia charge, 
but you can eat a joint if you have to. Secondly, good marijuana is 
scarce, and finding locally produced cannabis is virtually 
impossible. I did manage to find some good stuff, and it was from 
California. Surprise. Thirdly, there is no initiative system in 
Georgia, so any change to state or county or city law has to come 
directly from the legislature. As you may well imagine, getting 
politicians to do anything is always a struggle, but the activists I 
met were all optimistic that legalization isn't too far away. I even 
met a dude who claimed to represent an investment firm looking to 
lobby the legislature for legal weed, so there's that. Sometimes I 
feel like the South will be the last region to legalize marijuana, 
but the activists in Georgia have renewed my hope.

Mr. Ngaio's answers to the stinky marijuana issue does admit the 
aroma of marijuana is a problem, but then dismisses the issue as 
"petty." This becomes somewhat of a self-serving retort.

To his credit, Mr. Ngaio then goes on to state, "I am not sure I have 
a solution for you." But, in his next sentence he makes an analogue 
between pot smoking and the acceptance of other annoyances of 
big-city living, such as occasional aroma of tobacco smoke, random 
garbage cans and dog shit. Those people who live in gated communities 
would never acquiesce to these obnoxious and preventable smells and 
refuse. Why should people who may not be able to afford, or for that 
matter want to live in these gated communities have to accept 
anything less than neighborhoods that are clean and sanitary?

This is a minor, but important distinction of inequity in our society.

- -Paul N.

Dude. Your letter was hella long. I used an excerpt.

My response to your question: What does the smell of marijuana smoke 
have to do with "clean and sanitary" neighborhoods? Does the smell of 
pot automatically make something "dirty"? Really? Maybe you missed my 
point: Marijuana smoke may be annoying, but it won't kill you. In 
order for people to get along in urban (and suburban) environments, 
we need to be tolerant of small disturbances sometimes.

My neighbors don't complain about the smell of weed, and I don't 
complain when I hear them getting it on. See how that works?

Why get in the way of someone else's good time? If you have to work 
in close quarters with someone that reeks of weed (or anything else, 
really) and it bothers you, maybe you could say something, Other than 
that, it shouldn't concern you.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom