Marijuana users have been given a bad name in this country. Whenever someone thinks about someone that smokes marijuana, an immediate thought that comes with that is that they are bad people. I know that is how I used to feel when I would hear a story about someone I knew that was a smoker. I would immediately think that that person doesn’t have “life figured out”. The whole way that I looked at that person changed and every time I saw them I would think about them smoking. That is not the case anymore for me, but I know that is how most of this country feels when they hear about someone that smokes marijuana. In middle school, we were so young and innocent and I can remember only hearing about it a few certain times that people smoked weed. I thought it was a huge deal when it really wasn’t. As soon as I got in high school, as I sure this is what happened to most people, marijuana was everywhere. Kids would smoke it behind school buildings or skip class to do it. I began to come accustomed to it. I knew friends that did it and my view on how I saw them never changed once I learned they did it. I accepted it and didn’t think anything of it. Not until one day when I heard some parents talking about it at a basketball game did I realize how marijuana is looked down upon. I asked my parents about it and they thought the same way that marijuana is terrible. I asked them more questions about it and everything they said came back to one idea, marijuana is illegal so it cannot be good. Marijuana has never been given a chance in this country because people already have their minds made up before they even hear the argument. If people in this country would listen to all the good that it could bring to them, it could change their mind, but because it is never even given a shot, legalizing marijuana might never happen. The idea that marijuana is an illegal drug and no good can come out of it needs to stop. Stop being biased and just listen to what people have to say.
This type of issue is the kind that reoccurs in many topics in our life. Many times people hear an idea and immediately there are fixated on that single idea. It is hard for people to disassociate what they have known for so long to relearn an entirely opposite concept. Most people willingly neglect to see the other side because they have become comfortable with what they see now. In terms of marijuana I was the same. I used to look down on people for smoking it and immediately I would cast them into a category of losers. To some degree I still do, old habits die hard, but mostly I am changed. I am not necessarily saying I condone the action merely that I am ok with people doing it. A good friend back home occasionally smokes and there was a time whenever I felt disappointed whenever they told me. But now, I have accepted the action and no longer judge them. I guess growing up hearing that marijuana is bad is an idea that was cemented into my head, but now as I get older I can make my own decisions.
ReplyDeleteA lot of my friends currently smoke marijuana, so I try to stay open-minded about the issue. I can't say that I entirely approve of it, but I have learned that it is not as bad as I once thought. I remember back in middle school, I would hear boys speaking with codenames and planning on smoking after school at one of their houses, and I would immediately think that they had nothing going for their life. Now, I try not to judge people by whether or not they smoke...because if I did that, then I would also have to judge someone by whether or not he or she drinks, since that is also illegal (if you're underage). The main problem that I have with smoking is when people allow it to interfere with their schoolwork. In high school, I would see groups of "known-smokers" leave campus to smoke, then come back to school high and think it was funny. Currently in college, people will tell me that they couldn't finish their homework because they were smoking. One of my friends even smoked before one of his mid-term exams! >:-| . It angers me when people allow smoking to affect them in such a way that they feel like they "have" to get high to get "that" feeling. It becomes a need rather than a want and can potentially become destructive. That is entirely disappointing. If people made better decisions about smoking, like when and where and why, then I would be way more accepting of it.
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