Do you think that in high school and in other areas, that smoking marijuana is more of a social endeavor to fit in? Or do you believe its for personal reasons?
Yes I do believe that peer pressure and the need to fit in is directly related to why people begin to use it. I mean nobody wakes up one day and says, "I want to smoke". It's mostly when we are at a party or at a friends house where we first see it being used and then someone will ask us if we want to try it. Then whammmoo. We try it for the first time because everyone is doing it.
Great point, JoshPosh, I only really started smoking pot because it was offered. I certainly didn't write "try smoking weed" on my "to-do" list!
I agree with the above post, most of the time it starts as a social endeavor. I honestly do not know anyone who just started smoking for no reason. I know one of my friends was not "offered" it the first time she smoked, however, all her friends were smoking and she wanted to try it because they were all doing it and she tried it alone. That is the only person I know of that did not do it in a social setting, but there was still pressure from all her friends so they were still an influence on her.
It's definitely peer pressure. One won't even really learn about it until someone from his or her friends would introduce this substance. It's rare that I know people discovered smoking it by themselves.
I think most people will start smoking weed because they get offered it rather than actually seeking it out if that makes sense. The only reason I started was because friends offered it to me and I thought I'd give it a go.
I don't know if it has anything to do with fitting in. Maybe for some. High school age, it probably is more curiosity than anything. Something new to try and it just continues. Poor parenting would attribute to that more than anything. Parents who don't actually care about their kids obviously haven't put any kind of ground work down so the kids have enough sense to stay away from it. But of course now with it becoming legal and medicinal. There is little barrier at this point. I noticed younger generations being more into using prescriptions for recreation like xanax and things like this. Pot is more of a legendary typical go to. Now they are immortalizing it by saying it's medicinal. Its good for you. I mean I'm sure there are some teenagers who see their friends into it and know its wrong but go along to fit in. Much like drinking. Unbeknownst to them the damage it causes. I'm sure if children and teens are fully understanding the full effects of drugs and alcohol. How it can damage and ruin someone's life. They would make better decisions.
The media as an important role to play aswell in all this, and back when I was growing up, rap music and that lifestyle was all around us. Movies, music and video portrayed weed smoking as a cool thing to do so a lot of my friends was influenced by it, and then I in turn, was influenced by my friends. At that age we are easily led, and that's exactly what happened to me. That's not an excuse, but a reason, and that's a totally different thing altogether.
I think that smoking marijuana does have a very strong social component. After all no one starts smoking marijuana by themselves.
I think it can be for both reasons. Some people just want to fit in and some want to get high. It really depends on the person. There could be some people who tried it for social reasons an decided it didn't kill them, so why not keep doing it. Like I said it depends on each person.
I actually started smoking pretty much by myself, after hearing so many great things about it from a friend( who never offered me) I just wanted to try so bad kinda worked my way to get it. This guy made an amazing job advertising marijuana as the best thing ever, if I had been offered my anyone back then I would've accepted for sure, but wasn't the case.
I consider marijuana as a good way to relax when I am passing throught stressful situations such as exams, problems and all that stuff, I do not really do it like all the time but it is something that I personally do because of the reasons I mentioned before, I know it is not a good thing to smoke marijuana or take drugs but for many people, including myself, its a good way to relax and leave problems beside for a while.
Even though smoking marijuana is becoming more mainstream, there's also something still mystical about it, for want of a better word. It's illegal but people know that they won't get arrested for just smoking one joint, or carrying enough for personal use so it a risk they're willing to take.
I think it depends on the person and on the situation. I've been offered to smoke spot many times in my life but I've never once tried it. The urge was there but I think I'm just too chicken to try.
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I think most people start experimenting wit marijuana because they want to fit in. Then they keep doing it because they start liking it and over the years it becomes a more personal thing. I think this is what it happens with this kind of light drugs, it all starts as a simple game to fit in, then it becomes a habit.
Smoking marijuana us also often seen as a soft drug, and people will use it and think it's not causing too much damage, and its making them feel good. In a lot of places in the world it's also cheaper than alcohol so it quickly becomes the turn to drug if you want to get high, but you don't have much money.
When I used to smoke, I smoked privately. I never have had courage to smoke in public. I used to smoke in my room and I was afraid if someone would find my smoking habit. Usually, I used to stand by the windows and exhale smoke through windows. Afterwards I sprayed room freshener.
I'm sure that we have all done that at some point, myself included. I remember my parents coming home early one time from a weekend away they had been on and I had to try and get rid of the smell pretty quickly. Luckily I got away with it, but I'm sure they knew, they just didn't say anything to me at the time!
For some smoking weed isn't about trying to fit in. It's all that hype that gets them interested. Of course when they are out with friends who smoke it makes it all easier to put the theories to test because they could always convince themselves that it's their friends who made them do it, should they want anyone to blame.