ROGER SIMON: Tired of Selfish Weed Smokers?

Some would call Norwegian tennis star Casper Ruud—currently competing at the US Open— rude with an e for bringing up something many of us have been thinking for years.

The NY Post reports under the headline: “Casper Ruud hates the weed smell at US Open: ‘Worst part about New York’”

I don’t know about “worst,” but it’s certainly up there. Every time I go to New York I feel as if I’m getting a contact high just walking around midtown Manhattan, a contact high, to be clear, I don’t want.

(This goes for many other cities, notably Seattle, Denver, Portland and everywhere in CA. In the case of Seattle, you trip over smokers getting off the ferry. It’s like an opium den in 19th Century China.)

I have no right to be a prude about marijuana. I smoked it regularly in my thirties. As I detailed in “Turning Right at Hollywood & Vine,” I did a fair number of other drugs popular at the time as well (psychedelics, etc.). Most of them I only tried once (okay, twice) because I am fortunate not to have an addictive personality—except for the ribeye steaks my doctor tells me are lethal for my kidneys and I am currently trying to shake.

As is well known, marijuana has changed over the years, becoming many times more potent. Curious about that, roughly ten years ago when I was still living in Los Angeles, I picked up the new vintage (there were as many choices as at a luxury wine shop) at a couple of the upscale marijuana emporiums then blossoming along Ventura Blvd. One of them had valet parking yet.

Earlier: How Weed Became The New Oxycontin.