NEW YORK (NewsNation) — Two New York state lawmakers are trying to clean up the air, proposing a bill that would prohibit the public use of cannabis unless approved by the local government.
When the New York State Legislature legalized the recreational use of marijuana in 2021, almost overnight there were many more people walking around the city with a joint in their hand.
Phone calls flooded city offices from people complaining about the overwhelming smell of weed in the air, begging city officials to do something about it.
But the law, on the side of weed smokers, says they’re allowed to smoke anywhere in public where tobacco smoke is permitted.
The two lawmakers from Brooklyn and Jamestown said their interest in proposing the bill was sparked by the constant phone calls they receive from people complaining about the smell of weed smoke in the air.
Last summer, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law prohibiting cigarette and marijuana smoking at state parks, nearly all state-owned beaches, boardwalks, marinas, playgrounds, recreational centers and public campgrounds.
The proposed bill that would ban public marijuana use is considered a long shot to get passed because the two lawmakers sponsoring the bill are Republicans up against a largely Democrat state legislature that is likely not interested in passing the bill.
Meanwhile, on the street, people said there’s been a noticeable increase in people smoking weed publicly and that maybe there should be some provisions to protect from secondhand marijuana smoke.
“I haven’t smoked pot outside in 30 or 40 years,” one man told NewsNation. “I live close enough by. I don’t want to subject people, little kids. But, I’m a huge pot smoker.”
Another pedestrian said he thinks it should be smoked like a cigarette. He said people walk away from cigarette smoke all the time, so if marijuana smoke is bothering them, they can walk away.
“Given the fact that we’re cracking down on one kind of smoke and not the other and having to enforce, what that enforcement looks like to me sounds like a slippery slope,” a third pedestrian said.
While marijuana is illegal at the federal level in the U.S., nearly half of the states have legalized recreational marijuana use, and even more, have legalized the drug for medicinal purposes.
In 19 states, people can still be jailed for small possession of marijuana, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.
The most common rule states follow when it comes to smoking weed in public is wherever cigarette smoking is banned publicly, the rule also applies to weed.
Devan Markham contributed to this report.