Republicans use cannabis smell complaints as ‘excuse’ to oppose legalization, advocates say

Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has said he opposes a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana because of the smell. Photograph: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Some Republican lawmakers, including Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, say that the public consumption of marijuana is a nuisance to people who don’t like the smell and a quality-of-life issue.

Meanwhile, advocates of marijuana legalization argue that lawmakers are exaggerating the scale of the problem and using the smell issue as a smoke screen for their actual gripe: that cannabis should not be legal.