smell of

[calimac]

Reading a news digest gives me my only glimpses into worlds like those of National Review, a contributor to which complained, "The U.S. has some of the greatest and most interesting cities in the world - New York, Chicago, San Francisco - and, over the last five or so years, almost all of them have become unpleasant to walk around in thanks to the ubiquitous smell of weed. Truly, it is everywhere - including, most distressingly, wafting through open-air restaurants and sidewalk cafes."

Really? In my college years, I hung around with people who smoked marijuana, though I never partook directly of it myself, so I know what it smells like. And I haven't encountered it lately in San Francisco, which I visit frequently.

The writer finds the smell of marijuana to be noxious, and I won't dispute someone else's personal tastes, but for me the smell is not particularly objectionable, in fact pleasantness itself next to the truly toxic, hellfireish stench of tobacco. Which used to be everywhere and completely inescapable. But, thanks to cultural change and anti-smoking laws, I haven't had to smell any, certainly not more than momentarily, for about 20 years. And I could go much longer than that.

Comments

[armiphlage]

I don't use marijuana, but have no objection to people using it.

When I visited San Francisco, I commented that multiple skunks must have been run over by cars, before realizing what it was. For some reason (the varieties available? the smoking techniques? more patios and open windows?) the odour was far more noticeable in San Francisco than in Toronto.

[calimac]

I can't imagine mistaking marijuana for a skunk. They seem nothing alike to me.

[armiphlage]

I grew up in a rural area near a highway, so my nose defaults to "skunk" for many chemical compounds.