Weed, pot, bud, smoking up, smoking out…no matter what it’s called, you won’t have any trouble grasping the meaning. Walk through the halls of a dorm or sit on Foss Hill on a sunny day and you can’t miss the haze lingering around you.
In her column “A Little Bit Shady: coffee, tea, or ritalin” (11/12/02) Hanna Ingber ’03 wrote about the recreational use of cocaine and Aderol as a studying enhancer. These substances are certainly more covert on campus than pot and are more controversial or stigmatized in the minds of many people. I remember being fascinated by those articles because of the forbidden nature of the drugs she was investigating.
Many people consider pot, on the other hand, to be perfectly acceptable. It takes some a few minutes to even categorize it as a drug. But how often do we actually stop to think about it? Does the fact that it is so widely accepted give us any real opportunity to reflect on its benefits and drawbacks?
The fact that it’s so common seems like all the more reason to look at the role it plays here.
“Smoking pot is fun and healthy, if done in moderation,” said Ted ’04*, who said he smokes about once a week. “I think it usually has a good effect—everything is just so…funny.”
Many students say they see it as a perfectly normal activity, and possibly even less harmful than alcohol.
“It is very acceptable—in some cases more acceptable than drinking—and less confrontational, albeit detrimental to motivation,” said Andrew ’06*.
“People aren’t as judgmental when someone doesn’t smoke as much as when someone isn’t drinking,” added Meg ’06*, who said she smokes a couple of times a week.
It’s true. The easygoing nature of pot smokers, or something about the activity itself, evokes less feelings of pressure to engage in it than does drinking. Several people cited the relaxed interactions and conversations with friends as the biggest incentive.
“My dorm is a wonderful environment to smoke pot in,” Andrew said. “Among the positives are a delightful interaction between people and a universal love of good food—like Nutella on anything.”
“I write good poetry when I’m high…but also when I’m not high,” Meg said.
But not everyone at Wes smokes, and even those who do must show restraint sometimes, right?
“I have plenty of friends who don’t smoke or don’t smoke frequently. I view it as more of a recreational activity than anything,” said Zander Mackie ’07. “ I have no problems with people smoking so long as it doesn’t take over their life or activities.”
While most people pointed to the benefits and fun of smoking, they acknowledged some of the downsides.
“It exercises the brain and dumbs it down at the same time,” Andrew said. “Either I get very tangential when I’m high, or I can’t form sentences. It makes it a bit too easy to avoid work…it makes it easy to avoid anything.”
Mackie added that it doesn’t prevent him from doing work, but that he notices himself being more absentminded.
“While it’s also not necessarily a physically addictive substance, there are clearly people who are addicted to it physically or mentally. If they’re always high and that’s the only way they’re interacting with people, that’s not good,” said Emily Meyer ’05.
Despite its prevalence on campus—or perhaps because of it—some students feel strongly that smoking pot is a pointless activity.
“Smoking pot regularly is a waste of time and money and energy,” said Janey ’06*. She added that she thinks people smoke to convey the “illusion of being pacified and trying to fulfill the hippie persona.”
So are we just smoking to recall some long-lost Phish concert? Many who smoke do not fit the pothead stereotype and are fully functional and productive. Looking at the bright and talented people who smoke, but still excel in their schoolwork and activities, how do we reconcile the stereotypes that exist with the reality of its role in our daily lives?
“I have good friends who smoke regularly and still remain very sharp and interested in other things than pot,” Mackie said.
Is the fact that many of us are able to balance success with substances just a way of kidding ourselves about the nature of what we’re doing? And how does it happen that we’re never concerned with the legality of our actions?
“I think it’s bizarre that pot is still illegal. But I also think it is a privilege of college students not to consider its legality,” Ted said.
Meyer also commented on the legal issues associated with smoking, citing it as the main reason that she doesn’t smoke pot.
“I think that it’s a lot safer than both alcohol and cigarettes, so there aren’t good reasons for it to be illegal, and if it were legal I would probably smoke it,” Meyer said. “Even though so many people do it, the fact that it’s not legal means it’s not regulated.”
Still, there are definite negative effects to smoking pot. Couple this with the fact that it is illegal, and it remains difficult to formulate a good/bad division because it’s such an integral part of college. When one of my friends found a large bag of weed on the floor of the Science Center, none of us were surprised. I was more convinced than ever that we are truly living in a bastion of marijuana-dom.
Is it something we should be more aware of about which we should be more concerned? Or is the role it fills in our lives here an acceptable one? Whatever you may believe, it’s important to see how big a part of our lives it actually is and to take the time to think about it…even if the thinking primarily happens while eating chips and watching “Zoolander.”
*Names have been changed.
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