The news site of Glenbrook South High School.

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The news site of Glenbrook South High School.

The Oracle

The news site of Glenbrook South High School.

The Oracle

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Marijuana usage should not be regarded as means of identification, judgement

If there’s one thing marijuana is good at, it’s being inexplicably tied to people’s identities. Whether it’s self-superior disdain or irrational affection, people love to talk about their feelings for pot and its accompanying culture. I feel pretty comfortable saying no one cares about your pot-related habits so long as you can talk about other things sometimes. 

If you have a Thursday night tradition of getting high and watching Disney Channel Original Movies, that’s your prerogative (although I question your cinematic taste). Similarly, if you’re a vocal opponent of weed, that’s fine too; just stop criticizing everyone else for their perceived moral failings and, for the love of God, stop pretending ‘‘just say no’’ is a valid argument instead of an oversimplified ideal.

I want to be clear in saying, I’m not condoning marijuana use. It’s just not something that should be demonized the way it is by some groups of people. It also shouldn’t be something to base an identity on.

It’s time to realize that marijuana use is not the heavily stigmatized activity it once was. According to Pew Research Center, 52 percent of adults now support recreational marijuana legalization. When the question was first asked in 1969, it was 12 percent. The public perception of marijuana is changing, for better or for worse, and it’s time for our attitudes to reflect that.

One aspect of that attitude is our drug education system. When I look back on the health units we had in elementary and middle school PE classes, the vast majority of lessons I can remember had to do with how marijuana will make you ultimately lose your grip on reality in a whirlwind of addiction and inevitable insanity—this preceding a violent death a la Reefer Madness.

Maybe this can happen, but it rarely does. A more realistic, comprehensive approach (like the one GBS takes) would only see to students making safer decisions.

Some people are going to do drugs. It might not be healthy, productive or ideal, but it’s true. This can only be handled safely when it’s discussed realistically and appropriately. Marijuana use does not diminish or augment a person’s value as a human being, and it’s time we stop treating its use as a rare cultural statement and instead as a reality.

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