How is it possible that it's illegal to smoke inside an apartment, but if you have a "cannabis card" it's illegal to smoke it anywhere except your apartment/residence and you are NOT required to shut your windows? If its purposes are "medicinal" why are people allowed to smoke it at all? I don't care if they put it in a tea, a brownie, or their flipping paella. I do care about smoke being blown into my apartment that smells like a skunk ate an anchovy pizza. Smoke is hazardous to everyone's health. Didn't they think that maybe the people living in the neighboring apartments might be affected by both the smell and smoke, to say nothing of that fact that maybe a pregnant person doesn't want their unborn child getting baked on a daily basis because of crappy windows and ventilation? WHY are people allowed to smoke ANYTHING in closed quarters? If the argument is that it doesn't bother anyone else, I'm here to say that that is absolute garbage.
It bothers me. It bothers me that a police officer encouraged me to cozy up to said neighbor because in this situation, he has all of the power and I have none. It bothers me that he says the majority of their calls come from pregnant women or people with respiratory issues that are facing the EXACT same problem and are powerless to protect themselves or their family's health because heaven forbid we should interfere with someone's unalienable right to get wrecked. It bothered me when he informed me that getting a "cannabis card" is just about the easiest thing you can do and that you don't even have to have any kind of physical ailment to obtain one. It bothers me that said cop has no way of verifying for me if my neighbor actually does have a cannabis card. So basically, we just have to take everyone at their word? It bothers me that when I approached my neighbor and politely asked him to find another way to ingest his business (he was, of course, high at the time) laughed in my face, limply suggested that marijuana smoke never hurt anyone, that people like ME were responsible for how terrible his life is or something to that effect, and walked away. It bothers me that when I stepped into my car today, the smell of pot was so strong that I had to get out of the car to avoid gagging. It bothers me that my landlady, after walking over to our place, said that she could smell it so strongly that she herself smelled like pot the rest of the day...just be BEING in our general vicinity. Wouldn't it be great if when I show up to the hospital in a few days to deliver my baby, they too can smell it on MY clothes?
I have no problem with people who have chronic pain choosing to medicate with marijuana, but there is absolutely no reason why anyone needs to be smoking it. No reason. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying or a fool.
We should have an answer from our apartment owner by Thursday as to whether or not they can legally evict these tenants (something that thankfully they would like to do if they can without facing a law suit for HIPPA violations) and if not, they are willing to let us out of our lease. If we end up needing to move, we will have no promise or assurance that the same thing will not happen again because according to the cop I spoke to today, the police and landlords have no right to ask people to stop taking their "medicine" or to restrict the ways and means by which they ingest their "medicine"
So, to whoever created this lovely law that disenfranchises four people for every one it "serves" I say, thanks. Thanks a lot. I'm having a baby in two days and you've made my life a lot easier.
