User is blunt about his first time

User is blunt about his first time

Allen Diao, Guest Writer

Damon* first got weed from one of his classmates due to his curiosity.

“I found one of my classmates was using weed and he said he could sell me some,” Damon said. “I was really curious about weed so I bought a vaping device and some weed oil for the device. The device was $20 and weed was $60.”

From there he was hooked.    

“I use weed at 9 p.m. and I can sleep really well during the night,” Damon said.

“I feel even more energetic during daytime if I smoke weed the night before.”

But soon his supplier ran out.

“Honestly, I used up all the weed I bought last time and my friend could not get more weed for now, so I’ve not been smoking weed for over a week,” he said. “Though I like to be high, I don’t feel uncomfortable when I stop using weed. If my friend manages to get more weed I’ll buy some just for relaxing. I’ll lower the frequency I use it,” he replied.

For Damon, the legalization of marijuana will allow him the opportunity to get weed legally.

On Nov. 6, Michigan proposal 1 passed, meaning that Michigan legalized marijuana. Though many don’t use marijuana for medical or recreational use, voters approved the measure. According to the Center of Disease and Control and Prevention Center, 38 percent of teens have tried smoking marijuana.

Damon’s mother, *Jane found out quickly about his use. She was scared that her son’s life could be ruined by weed.

“I had no idea what weed does but I felt like it was some kind of drug which would ruin my son’s life,” Jane said. “I cried and kept asking him why would he do that.”

 Jane soon accepted her son’s choice and changed her attitude towards weed after knowing the truth.

 “I thought that would ruin his life so I wanted to force him to get rid of it,” she said. “However, I heard that weed would be legal soon. He promised me that he knows what he’s doing. In fact, now he’s behaving normally in daily life and his career seems to be unaffected by weed.”

It is true that people could get weed when it was not legal for recreational use. Ten percent of Michigan residents smoked weed before it was legalized.

Knowing that weed is legal now, Damon promised to not use weed as frequently as he did in the past, and Jane decided to let go of the issue.

“He tells me that he uses weed less than one time a week,” Jane said. “Weed is legal now and I think weed is not really affecting him in his daily life so I don’t want to regulate him. After all, he’s over the restricted age for weed now and he’s an adult.”

According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention Center, “Research shows that marijuana use can have permanent effects on the developing brain when use begins in adolescence, especially with regular or heavy use.” In addition, “Frequent or long-term marijuana use is linked to school dropout and lower educational achievement.

For more information about the effects of marijuana, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/factsheets/teens.htm  

 

*Those interviewed for this article asked to remain anonymous, under alternative names.