BESSEMER, MI – A small, Upper Peninsula city smells like pot and some community leaders are taking steps to try and fix it.
“The city of Bessemer stinks,” council member Linda Nelson said, according to the Ironwood Daily Globe. "You can smell marijuana everywhere. We’ve got people who can’t sit in their backyard because the smell from their neighbor is so bad.”
To combat the unwanted skunk smell, the Associated Press reports that council voted 4-1 on Monday to purchase a $3,400 device called the Nasal Ranger that will measure and quantify odor strength in the ambient air.
This could potentially be used to check complaints of bad-air and unwanted odors, and, combined with an odor ordinance that would need to be adopted by the city, help bring legal action against violators.
City Attorney Ray O’Dea is looking into the feasibility and legality of that plan, the Daily Globe reported.
Medical marijuana has been around since 2008. But Michigan residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2018.
In the compact, Western U.P. community of 1,905 people near the Wisconsin border, the smell is apparently an issue. Bessemer City Manager Charly Loper told the Associated Press the smell is especially bad during the 6-to-8-week blooming period in the warmer months.
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In addition to residents smoking, the Michigan law has also attracted people from Wisconsin and Minnesota to move to the community and buy houses to grow in, according to the Associated Press.
“We’re treading very softly in this area,” she said. “People have a right to grow marijuana in their house, but everyone needs to be considerate of their neighbors, so the odor isn’t affecting their enjoyment of the outdoors.”
You can read the full Daily Globe report here.