I think the pending legalization of marijuana is great.

I believe the government regulation and taxation of the product is a smart move. What I don鈥檛 like is anyone thinking that marijuana is now so mainstream and accepted they can light up anywhere. The arrogance and disregard for other people gets me a tad bit riled up.

When you are a guest at someone鈥檚 home, you should be respectful of their space and rules. Would you go into someone鈥檚 house and put your feet on their table? Or just open their fridge and start pawing through it? I sure hope not. The same goes for lighting up a joint 鈥� inside, outside, it doesn鈥檛 matter. Unless you have express permission from the homeowners (not their kid or their dog and not the neighbour, or the government), you are not, I repeat, not, to light up. It is not your 鈥渞ight鈥� to light up wherever you want. Go back and read that last sentence again.

Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I don鈥檛 care what you do in your own home, but I definitely care what you do in mine. Actually I care what you do in a public space too.

I went to a function a few months back where the guests ranged in age from 15 to 75. One of the guests, male, around 40 years old, came in, walked right to the outside deck where most of the guests were congregated and without a word to anyone, he immediately lit a joint.

Am I supposed to give him kudos for at least being outside? And, for offering it around? The interesting thing was that no one said a word. Some didn鈥檛 care, a few people got up and went inside, and others completely ignored the proverbial elephant in the middle of the room.

I wonder what would have happened if it were a tobacco cigarette? I鈥檓 sure everyone would have felt much more justified in being vocal and asserting their personal thoughts but when it鈥檚 pot, people seem to shy away. Is it because you don鈥檛 want to be the one labeled as an old fashioned fuddy-duddy? Perhaps a party killer? Or the least cool person on Earth? Come on, everyone is doing it, right? Nope. They sure aren鈥檛. The blatant disregard and rudeness of those that think they can smoke dope whenever, and wherever, they want, needs to be called out as unacceptable.

I鈥檓 not a prude (or I don鈥檛 think I am), and I smoked cigarettes for many years before quitting.

Society has deemed cigarette smoking dangerous and unacceptable. It鈥檚 so vilified that a smoker has to drive his car out to the middle of nowhere, lock all his doors, and watch over his shoulder to enjoy a puff. However, smoking a joint openly in a public park, or as you walk your kids to school, or stand at a bus stop, are now all acceptable? I think there鈥檚 something a wee bit twisted here.

I find those who do not smoke marijuana are judged as being stiff, out of touch with the current trends, and goody-goodies, but I believe they are really the silent majority (perhaps too silent). The world is definitely changing and with those changes comes a difference in opinion, but not the right to be ignorant or rude. Don鈥檛 judge me and I won鈥檛 judge you, but if you try and smoke dope at my house, you鈥檒l be asked to leave.

And don鈥檛 worry, we鈥檙e going to have a chat later about the wake and bake trend that I think is frying young brains.

Faye Arcand is a freelance writer living in the South Okanagan. If you want to share your opinions with her or have a question you would like her to write about contact her at faye.arcand@icloud.com or .