Should public cannabis use be allowed?

Arrests fell significantly in New York City when they allowed marijuana to be smoked in public. Sounds like a no-brainer – if it’s legal to smoke weed in public, cops can’t arrest you. Except that there are gray areas in some places and police officers like to take advantage of these gray areas to increase the number of arrests and to have the feeling that they are “enforcing the LAW!”

It turns out that whatever you have to do to keep the police from doing something is making it legal. The police are blind to the moral consequences of the law – they just enforce it. Do you know how Superior Orders!

Photo by Matthew Karila via Unsplash

The topic of public cannabis use is not limited to New York City, however; It’s a topic that will definitely come up in any future legalization debate until cannabis is fully integrated into society.

Here we are going to investigate what possible fears people would expect and whether this would apply to tobacco smoke as well.

The fear of smoking in public

The image that public smoking opponents would have you believe is that once you allowed public use, people would be walking around smoking joints anywhere and all the time.

While it is true that public use would occasionally add a hint of cannabis smoke, most people are not fans of “walking around smoking marijuana”. With vape devices, they usually take a puff or two and move on with their day. Smoking joints just creates too much smoke – and is usually reserved for parks or outdoor events.

However, as vaporizers become more popular with the youth, it is safe to say that these devices will become more widespread in mass society. If you don’t smoke cannabis, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference between a regular vaporizer and a cannabis-infused vaporizer. Hence, technically, you shouldn’t have a problem with public cannabis use unless you have a problem with public vaping.

As for the actual smoking of joints, you would hardly see or smell them except on days like 04/20.

Smoking tobacco vs. smoking cannabis

It turns out that cannabis and tobacco smoking are practically linked. About 12% of Americans admit to smoking cannabis regularly, compared with 14% of Americans who smoke tobacco regularly.

Most places prohibit tobacco smoking indoors, but when it comes to using it outdoors, that’s not a problem. If people believe that smoking cannabis outdoors should be banned, then the obvious question we need to ask is, “What about tobacco?”

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If tobacco is not seen as a problem, it would be hypocritical to criminalize the public consumption of one but not the other. If euphoria is the reason why public cannabis use is banned, we must point out that tobacco has psychological and neurological effects on users and that secondhand smoke can cause health problems.

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Therefore, when you are discussing the ban on cannabis use in public, you are also inviting a broader discussion of what we can and cannot do in public spaces. Due to the crime rate in the past, cannabis users will have no problem adjusting to “private use”. Tobacco smokers would die.

How much government do you want?

As someone who has studied the war on drugs in depth, I have no confidence in the government. I’ve seen branches of government play a political game for over 70 years, adapting the rules and narratives to their purposes.

Photo by LordHenriVoton / Getty Images

For me, the smaller the government the better because as a hunted individual I lived by law enforcement just because I chose to consume a plant. For those who put their blind faith in the government, I fear. These are the people who would think “Just Following Orders” is a justification for murder.

The government should not tell us how to behave; it is designed to ensure that the rights of others are not violated. However, by giving the government more powers, such as: For example, dictating what you can and cannot smoke in public, you create a condition for enforcement.

What if you don’t do it?

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Well, the government looks weak, which means its ability to enforce the norm is diminishing. To fix this, you have a couple of options:

• Increase the perception of the severity of the punishment
• Increase enforcement brutality

The first they accomplish with their jail programs, which impose arbitrary years for crimes. There is no scientific way to give someone “14 years to sell plants”.

The second is achieved through militarization of the police, immunity from prosecution of crimes and protection of the police.

Now coping with the very real death threats is made easier. When you let state jurisdiction over your outdoor activities in this way, you simply create more space for your intimidation tactics.

The sticky end result

We must always work to expand our personal freedoms as much as possible. There may be some people who take public smoking to the next level and spend all day in parks. But for most people we just don’t have time.

But what public smoking will ensure is that restaurants, bars, and music venues are able to generate a new source of income that offers a substance arguably safer than the alternative – alcohol.

What you put in your body is your business and if you want to show yourself off in public you should be allowed to do so. Maybe all you had to do was clear your mind and go to the park and light one.

This article originally appeared on Cannabis.net and was republished with permission.