[All names of subjects were withheld for safety purposes]
[This article does not imply that the Advocate supports or does not support the use of marijuana]
I was having a conversation earlier and had mentioned that a reporter for the Spur (the Advocate in 1970) wrote a piece about the obtainability of drugs, specifically pot, in the local area. “Remembering my journalism professor’s continual reminder to do research to find the news, I decided to go out on my own to find out just how easy it is to buy pot in this area,” said reporter (name was withheld-1970)
This article prompted me to conduct research of my own; I wanted to know how many students came high to school today or planned to get high today because of ‘4/20: National Weed Day’. Although I wanted to be fair and objective, I purposely tried to seek out people who were more likely to come to school high, which required a bit of generalizing and stereotyping.
17 out of the 25 people I spoke with were either already high or planned to get high later today.
My sample size was small but I can conclude that some students at MC are getting high, aren’t afraid to be high at school, and acknowledge the use of it in today’s day and age. 22 out of 25 of people I talked to knew about it. How could you not? There are even Snapchat filters commemorating the day.
A student told me he was a regular pot smoker, saying “I come to school high everyday pretty much. I love weed, it doesn’t affect me in a weird way like most people would think. If you’re asking if I celebrated today, yes, I did celebrate 4/20.”
On the flip-side, another student revealed to me that they would be trying pot for the very first time today. “All of my friends are getting together later at someones house, I chipped in 10 bucks for a ‘session’,” said student. “I’m not nervous, maybe a little because I might get caught.”
With the legalization of marijuana well on it’s way in Maryland, students weren’t that reluctant to talk to me, even if they weren’t planning to smoke today. One student told she would not be smoking today, but says she “doesn’t care if other people [smoke weed], it doesn’t matter to me. It looks like it’ll be legal soon anyways. To each their own!”
A male student told me he brought ‘edibles’ to school today. Now, if you’re someone who doesn’t know much about weed culture, edibles are just marijuana infused snacks, typically baked in brownies or made into gummy bears. In this case, he had marijuana infused caramel.
“I was like ‘what is the best way to get high at school and not get caught?’ so instead of bringing something obvious like a blunt or joint, I brought caramels. It was easy and I was really high during the day,” said MC student.
Although today is a day dedicated to marijuana, one student who had smoked before decided it would be better to just do it another day. “This holiday is like a joke, it really bothers me because people make it so [obvious] that they are high or will get high…keep it to yourself and do it like ANY other day of the year,” said student.
There was mixture of responses, but it gave me insight into recreational activities MC students participated in and how common it is to smoke marijuana.
