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It's less public. There's actual fear of smoking in parks, pools, concerts, because it's still nominally illegal. After legalization in CO, public smoking wen
by wanderfowl 11y ago
It's less public. There's actual fear of smoking in parks, pools, concerts, because it's still nominally illegal. After legalization in CO, public smoking went way up.
I suspect it'll drop down again after the novelty wears off and the public tires of it and wants smoking laws enforced.
But one nice perk of legalization is that it could be written into leases explicitly that smoking in the apartment is in violation of the lease and is grounds for eviction after repeated complaints. It's not a police matter or a "narcotics" issue, it's just somebody being an inconsiderate neighbor.
- dragonwriter 11y agoThat's not a perk of legalization, since you can do that when the drug is illegal, as well. In fact, many leases do do that for all illegal drugs (which marijuana remains, due to federal prohibition, no matter what happens under state law.)
- wanderfowl 11y agoYes, but there's a huge subjective difference between saying "You're an asshole, stop smoking up in a shared-wall-dwelling" and "You're a criminal, go to jail". Most managers are happy to address nuisance issues, but would rather reduce the number of police calls to the property. Same thing with public smoking laws. People smoking up in a park upwind of people deserve a small ticket, an age check, and a harshed mellow. They do not deserve arrest and prosecution on drug laws. Enforcement of disproportionate punishment is less attractive to sane humans.
- dragonwriter 11y agoThe fact that something is a criminal offense does not mean that landlords cannot also handle it as a contract issue when it is addressed in a lease. Again, legalization doesn't enable anything here.