Suddenly, while driving to Home Depot last night, the Elder grabs his nose and says, “Whoa, that’s nasty!”
Especially so since the car windows were rolled up (its winter here in Buffalo) and we were moving quickly down the road.
Used to be we’d only occasionally experience that horrific odor. Skunk. While driving on the highway at night perhaps. Or on some country road.
But now, it seems to be everywhere. All the time.
Walking through stores, I’ll smell it. Driving, obviously. (Which is especially weird to me since it’s not legal to be driving while smoking pot). Taking walks along the river. Or in the park. Or attending ANY event outdoors.
Since the possession and use of marijuana has been legalized here in New York State, the odor of skunk has exploded.
Cigarette smoke, and the odor that lingered on the clothes and breath of its addicts, used to be bad enough. Doubly so for cigar smoke. Pipe smoke at least was sweet, but who smokes a pipe anymore?
This marijuana odor is 10 times worse.
You’ve noticed too?
Did you think there were just more skunks in the world, all of a sudden? (I wondered for a while)
If so, you’re not alone. The Elder and I first learned of this phenomenon while walking the streets of The Big Apple while on vacation.
My wife noticed it first. We couldn’t see anything. But as we turned the corner, the odor was strong and unmistakable.
“I didn’t think they had skunks in the city, ” she says out loud.
My kids laughed. Then whispered to me, “You know that’s pot smell, right?”
Well, I kinda knew. But not for certain until then.
I told my wife later. And then it all made sense.
Why there had been this explosion in skunk smell of recent.
Seems the legalization of pot only created more odor, not more skunks.
Pity. Skunks are cute except for the odor.
Now we’ve got the odor, and no cute.
Not sure the legalization was best. Not at least for the non-smokers.
Funniest thing for me was, when searching skunk photos for this post, I typed “skunk” into the search bar at Pexels.com.
https://pexels.com/search/skunk/
I got NO skunk animal photos. Only pot photos like the one on the right above! What???
So don’t be surprised if one day you say to your grandkids,
“That smells like skunk!”
And they say, “Duh Grampa, that IS skunk!” “You smoke?”
Is this the next great business opportunity? Odorless pot? Are they already working on this? They should be. Who wants to smell like skunk?
Or is smelling like skunk the new Cool? Or what “Slaps”?
RIP my debonaire troublemaker Pepe Le Pew. Seems they’ve moved to eliminate him too.
What now my friends, is the future of skunks?
Just file this under “stuff people over 50 should know” I guess.
“Bene Vivere!”
Bob “Pot-Smart-Now” Schwarztrauber
