Looking Behind the Statistics
Local teen marijuana use higher than
the national average
By Nick Thomas, sixteen, with contributions from
Fiona Smith, sixteen; Maya Hardie, thirteen and Hanna Schafer-Nelson,
thirteen
--Picture - Pryce Hadley, 16
Seventeen-year-old Pete of Marquette County says it’s easy for teens
to get marijuana locally.
“From what I know there’s quite a bit of dealers in Marquette County,”
he said.
Pete’s experience is backed up by recent statistics that show marijuana
use among teens in Marquette and Alger Counties is significantly higher
than the national average.
In 2004, the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development surveyed more
than two thousand eighth, tenth and twelfth graders in Marquette and
Alger Counties. Thirty-one percent said they have used marijuana at
least once in the past year.
The national average for the same age group is twenty-four and a half
percent according to the 2004 Monitoring the Future survey sponsored
by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
To find out more about the reasons behind the high levels of marijuana
use among local teens, its effects, and possible solutions, 8-18 Media
interviewed three Marquette County teens that have used marijuana in
the past. Their names have been changed for this story.
How it begins
Pete, seventeen, first smoked pot when he was thirteen and quit when
he was sixteen.
“The first time I ever used marijuana was a get-together with my friends
out at a friend’s family’s shop,” he said. “Eventually I started going
to more get-togethers and it started showing up in more places as I
started growing up through high school because it’s all over in the
high school. It soon started coming up pretty much everywhere that I
went. I was getting sucked into using it under peer pressure and such
things like that.”
Friends were also a big influence for Susan, sixteen. She used marijuana
for about ten months when she was fifteen.
“I guess someone who really influenced my use of marijuana was my boyfriend.
He was a big pothead and he’s still a big pothead and that’s why we
broke up. Not as much peer pressure, but just like, OK, I’m hanging
out with these people and they’re doing it, so why not? I think friends
have a lot to do with marijuana use and when it comes to things like
drugs and alcohol. Friends have a huge impact on that.”
Bob, sixteen, also found peer pressure to be a big influence on marijuana
use.
“Most of my friends were doing it, so I kind of wanted to keep up with
them,” he said.
Pete believes that marijuana has become more socially accepted in teens,
which may lead to more kids taking up the habit.
“A lot of kids are trying it now because, yes, it’s socially acceptable.
Teenage society says that it’s a cool thing to do to smoke marijuana.
Nowadays everybody goes to parties and everybody smokes marijuana. It’s
not even that big of a deal by social standards. I only know a select
few who don’t do that, who haven’t tried it, and who have actually quit
as well. It’s become a lot more socially acceptable over the years.”
Susan thinks that teens do not see marijuana use as a big problem.
She says that most people see the use of hardcore drugs such as cocaine
or LSD as reckless and stupid, but they don’t see marijuana in the same
light.
“I think with marijuana being pretty natural, it’s not the best for
you but it’s certainly not going to kill you your first time. You can’t
overdose on it,” she said. “I feel like it’s kind of like a normal thing.
And I think a lot of people think it’s safer than even alcohol. I really
feel like pot and alcohol go hand-in-hand. A lot of the people that
smoke are people that drink and vice versa. Kids see it as a normal
thing since it’s so accepted in their culture.”
Not only is marijuana acceptable to some, it’s also accessible.
“In Marquette County you can find weed just about anywhere,” Bob said.
“Maybe around the world it’s a little bit harder to get weed from places.
But around here you can get it just about anywhere.”
Susan agrees.
“It has been said that this is one of the best places to grow weed
in the country, Garden Green from Michigan. Marijuana down there is
supposed to be really good. I know friends that grow it in their backyard
or that planted it in the church parking lot yard. It’s so easy to grow,”
she said.
It’s not uncommon to hear teens anywhere say, ‘There’s nothing to do.’
“That could be a reason why kids want to smoke marijuana,” Pete said.
“You’re sitting home all by yourself. There’s nothing to do. Your parents
are gone. Can’t call up a friend. Maybe you’re grounded or something
like that. If you got a bag on you then sometimes kids will smoke it
just because it will give them a good feeling. And time passes quicker
when you’re smoking marijuana. It’s just something to do I suppose.”
The effects of use
It has been said that moderation is the key to a healthy life. But is
that the case for marijuana?
“That’s a good question,” Susan said. “If it wasn’t illegal… Anything
that’s occasional… Like you grow up and you’re with your friends and
you’re just like after dinner or something like that, I think that’s
fine. Occasional use of marijuana would be fine if it wasn’t illegal,”
Susan said.
Pete strongly disagrees.
“It’s a drug. It messes you up. It kills you,” Pete said. “You’re inhaling
smoke; that can’t be a good thing. Physically you’re probably damaging
your body and you’re killing yourself, even if it’s just once. While
you’re smoking marijuana you can do a lot of stupid things, too. You
don’t know what you’re doing. You’re just going with the flow. You’re
doing whatever you want but you’re still not totally aware of it. And
while you’re high you can mess up a lot of things. You can say a lot
of stupid stuff. You can do a lot of stupid stuff. You can get in trouble
with the police. You can get in trouble with friends, family, whoever.
It’s not acceptable at all because of certain situations that can spawn
from it.“
In addition to marijuana being illegal and unhealthy, there are other
problems that may arise, according to the teens.
“My grades started going down in school and I had a lack of motivation.
I started getting in trouble with the law and stuff. I had to stop because
it was kind of ruining my life,” Bob said.
Pete found that marijuana affects relationships.
"Family relationships and friendships are the big things that
were affected in my life. I was friends with a lot of people who didn’t
smoke marijuana. Once they found out, once word got out, lots of friendships
were lost. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get them back on again.”
Susan said that her use affected her choice of friends.
“I was in this close group of friends. If anything, I was smoking pot
with more people than less people and becoming friends with other people
because that kind of like bonds you or whatever stupid way you want
to talk about it,” she said. “But I gained a lot more friendships once
I stopped doing that and I completely changed my life around. That’s
when I got more friends, and I got good friends.”
What can be done?
Bob suggests that becoming more active would decrease marijuana use
among teens.
“If they took up sports or something like biking or skateboarding I
think it would help a lot. I took up biking and I never smoke pot anymore,”
he said. “Find something better to do with your time instead of just
blowing your money on weed and smoking it. Go ride a bike or play basketball
or something, or read.”
Pete believes that if teens are shown the consequences of marijuana
use, fewer will start.
“I know that in my school they had a program on trying to stop kids
using marijuana and what they did was use actual scenes of marijuana-related
car accidents, and you would see the torn up bodies and stuff like that.
That really got to the people if you wanted to be hardcore about it.
Otherwise, if you don’t want to go to that extreme, I’m sure you can
do things like billboards, posters. You can give statistics, facts,
stories. There’s a lot of things that you can do,” he said.
Susan gives advice for those struggling with marijuana.
“There’s better things that you can do with your life than sitting
around and smoking,” she said. “It ends up actually being a sad life
because you eventually need more and more and more to get you high.
There’s so many people now that are getting caught by the law and I
just really think that if you don’t want it to screw up your life you
should just stop while you can.”
