This is my response to the question of whether recreational cannabis should be legal: The short answer is no.

Beyond the science, which is not junk, and the factual statistics about effects on driving accidents and emergency room visits, smoking marijuana is a dirty habit, like cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

If you’ve ever tried to clean the vehicle of a pot smoker, you’d understand. In particular, when one of your neighbors smokes, you can smell it quite strongly and can be affected by it.

Beyond the safety and health issues, until lawmakers and law enforcement can find a way to keep a pot smoker’s habit from impinging on one’s right to clean air in their own home (e.g., restricting other’s use to indoors only with windows closed), then even the tax revenue is not worth it.

It is no wonder, then, that many cities in “legal” states have banned recreational pot shops from their jurisdictions. This should make our legislators think twice.

Steve Uretsky

Kihei, Maui

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