I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed, but you almost can’t go anywhere now without smelling pot.

Ohio’s legalization of marijuana isn’t completely responsible for that development, but it has doubtlessly played a role in the proliferation of people going about their daily lives smelling like they just went on an 420-mile road trip with Cheech and Chong.

The stuff was out there and noticeable before the new law, but it usually depended where you were at the time.

When my daughter was young, we went to Geneva-on-the-Lake one day and stopped for dinner at a restaurant with outdoor tables.

Sure enough, that unmistakable scent — at least for me — quickly descended on the area.

“What is that smell?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Someone is smoking a weird cigar. It will go away.”

In my head, I was glad she didn’t yet have a clue. But encountering people in public smoking pot was still something of a rarity then.

Today, you can be just about anywhere and quickly be overwhelmed by it.

I’ve pulled up to a traffic light and instantly realized that someone nearby was toking. Stores, business offices, hospitals, doctor’s offices and restaurants — no place is immune from the smell. I’m not ratting out any of my neighbors, but there have been nights when I was sitting on the deck or on the front porch and smelled pot.

Every now and then on a golf course, I’d catch a whiff of someone’s cigar from a fairway or two away.

There will be those who disagree, but the aroma of a good cigar is not unpleasant.

Now, you often can’t get through 18 holes without the smell of marijuana wafting over from somewhere nearby.

I’m not sure how people do that. I have enough trouble hitting the ball stone-cold sober. I’m not sure actually trying to play stoned would end well.

This isn’t meant to be a value judgment on those who smoke marijuana. As someone with a bit of a libertarian streak, I’m OK within people living their lives the way they choose to live them as long as they aren’t hurting others or breaking the law. And even when pot wasn’t legal, I was mostly inclined to just let things go when they don’t really affect me.

But as someone who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, I’m a child of the Nancy Reagan “Just Say No to Drugs” era. Pot and other drugs never held any appeal for me, but I knew people who made marijuana part of their daily lives.

But those who partook back then seemed to be more discreet about their habit. Now they don’t really feel as though they have to be.

So when you step into a waiting room at your doctor’s office or when you’re in line at the grocery store, chances are, well, high that you’re going to encounter the smell of pot whether you want to or not.

A few weeks ago, I ordered lunch from a delivery service. Met the delivery guy, he handed me the order and as I turned to go back inside, I realized the bag reeked of marijuana. Whenever someone says, “Hey, smell this!” there’s a 50-50 chance you’re not going to like it.

I had a couple of colleagues smell my bag of food and they had the same reaction.

Not only was the guy delivering orders that smelled like pot, but he was driving around smoking it and — presumably — may well have been somewhat impaired.

That is a concern for anyone on the road. Colorado experienced a significant uptick in impaired driving incidents after the state legalized marijuana some years ago.

It will be interesting to learn if that same trend is happening here in Ohio now that we’ve done the same. Chances are there is a marijuana dispensary already near you.

One way or another, we’ll learn about the long-term effects of legalization when the smoke clears.

If, in fact, it ever does.

Ed Puskas is editor of the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator. Reach him at 330-841-1786 or epuskas@tribtoday.com.