During the 2016 ballot Massachusetts voted yes on the legalization of marijuana. Now two years later lots of people are questioning the opening of pot and smoke shops. Even though marijuana is legal and most of the population is okay with it, most are not okay with new smoke and vape shops opening near them.

I feel as if there is nothing wrong with these types of stores now opening up, as long as they have ways to verify the age of there customers, these shops should be able to open. Now lots of chains of these stores are opening up around town many with sign adults only in the store window.

These types of shops used to be hated by almost all but now lots of people see it as a business.  As more open not only does it help businessman but the tax revenue that comes in from these smokes shops is climbing.

Now in my own opinion, there are pros and cons in this new booming industry. For starters these shops benefit the government, with all of these new shops opening in the greater area of Boston, thousands of new customers are shopping leaving the government with a whole lot of sales tax revenue.

This also benefits the city as these new e-cigarettes are taking off in the industry, meaning less purchases of cigarettes. As lots of adult smokers have started to make a transition to these vapes, especially if in the city they are highly accessible. It leads to healthier adults, and much less pollution and second hand smoke in the city.

Now to start off with the huge list of cons that these shops bring in. Now these stores being highly accessible, it makes it even more accessible for teens to get their hands on vapes.

These stores are able to help adult smokers quit smoking, but it still leaves the fact that a good percent of the consumers of these vape products are teens and young adults who have never even picked up a cigarette.

While this is most likely one of the biggest teen epidemics we have faced, the government will still allow the opening of these shops as it brings them in so much tax revenue. It seems as if the only things of the rise of these smoke/vape shops affecting the government is the benefits.

Now personally the benefits are worth this risk of teen vaping. It brings in a lot of tax revenue as well as it is helping millions of long time adult smokers quit and hopefully making their lives last longer. It also seems to help cut down on the pollution that is being produced by these major cities including Boston.