Does being stoned make you a "stoner"?
People who smoke weed, pot,
marijuana, Mary Jane, or whatever you choose to call it, are thought of in a
very negative way and for reasons that don’t seem to make very much sense. The media portrays everyone who smokes weed
as a “stoner” and showcases them in a comically negative way. Just because somebody smokes weed doesn’t make
them a stoner or a loser. Television and
movies make it seem like people who smoke weed are lazy, stupid, trouble
makers, and addicts. I’m sure this may
be true in some very rare cases, but for the majority of people who smoke weed,
it’s actually not that big of a deal. So
is there a difference between what the typical marijuana smoker is portrayed to
be and what he or she actually is? Yes, a big difference.
Many people
around the world have at least tried marijuana and it hasn’t sent the world
into any sort of chaos yet. In fact, according to drugfreeworld.org, (http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/international-statistics.html
) the United Nation reports that 158.8
million people worldwide use and smoke weed, that’s 3.8% of Earth’s entire
population. Out of that staggering 158.8
million, 94 million are from the US alone.
Now let’s think, that’s a HUGE number, but do we see people acting like
people in movies who smoke weed? Not
really. The truth and reality of the
situation is that people who smoke weed, even consistently, just laugh a little
more and snack a little more. It doesn’t
make them necessarily unproductive and stupid, in my own personal use, I can
get more done because I find it helps me hyper focus and think creatively. Some of the smartest people I know smoke weed
and have gotten accepted to great colleges like Penn State, Quinnipiac
University, Boston College, and Yale University, where even though continuing
marijuana use, obtain Dean’s List averages consistently. I know there are commenters out there saying “well
that’s just your own personal life and it doesn’t prove anything”. Well,
according to the Huffington Post, very iconic, influential, and successful people
like Madonna, Sarah Palin, Maya Angelou, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and yes,
even your dear and beloved commander in chief, Barack Obama have all admitted to
smoking pot and look where they are now.
So the next time you want to believe the idea of the stereotypical “stoner”
do some research or try it for yourself before drawing conclusions.
I couldn't agree more. Media and movies more often than not portray marijuana smokers similar to the people from Pineapple Express and Half Baked- totally hilarious and crazy burnouts/stoners. When, in actuality, that really isn't always the case. Marijuana really is a tool that can be used to aid and relieve serious illnesses like cancer and even anorexia (which I just learned about from The Purple Octopus' blog.) It's interesting to see it portrayed as something so crazy with all of these hilarious side affects when in actuality it can be used to help people, not even with things like illness but even with concentration in school and getting them to sleep at night.
ReplyDelete"It isn't a problem, until its a problem. And then it's a problem."
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you both, Jordo and Jax. I know more people than I can count that smoke weed daily and it doesn't change them as a person whatsoever. Personally, smoking weed takes the edge off when I'm stressed or when I want to relax and watch a movie before I go to bed. I have never and probably will never consider myself or majority of my friends stoners. Movies do portray the act of smoking weed with such a negative connotation and that is not the case at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's not surprising that you are seeing no change in people who smoke weed daily. And that's a bad thing. When someone habitually uses a drug as a crutch -- whether THC or alcohol -- they stop growing up. And that's a bad thing.
DeleteTo put it another way, you have no idea how much better a person they would be if they weren't addicted...
In regard to the media portrayal, I believe the way marijuana smokers are portrayed varies greatly between programming. Looking back to movies like "Reefer Madness", a once serious and now comical look at marijuana use, it is quite clear that there was once an entirely negative view of weed and those who used it. Even in "stoner comedies" ("How High", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", etc.) "stoners" are portrayed as losers (although frequently lovable losers) for a comedic effect. Fast forward to the present day, and show such as "Sons of Anarchy" and "Californication" show marijuana use as just a part of every day life, with no stigma or negativity attached. The "stoner" stereotype is one that, like many others, is being phased out of mainstream media. Years from now we may view the movies of Cheech and Chong as hilarious pieces of culture from a time period that saw marijuana in a completely different and incorrect way.
ReplyDelete"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is one of my favorite movies, and is about as close to being a documentary about high school culture as you could get. That's because it was based on a book written by a Rolling Stone reporter who went "undercover" during the 1980 school year. The characters in the movie are based on real people. If you search online, you can read interviews where the real people talk about the real stories, and how the script fictionalized them.
DeleteAs someone who graduated from high school in 1978, I can say that the portrayal of the stoners is not exaggerated for comedic effect. There was a Spicoli at Framingham South. There was a bathroom the teachers ignored where you could get a contact high just by walking by. There was a group of stoners who toked it up in the morning before school, walked into the woods for a lunchtime hit, and started their serious partying after school.
I'm not surprised that the stoners come across as hilarious -- because at the time, the rest of us thought so too.
I'm not sure what your closing comment about "different and incorrect way" means. Before the "War on Drugs", marijuana was socially acceptable to the middle class. It was the "drug of choice" on college campuses, with alcohol a distant second. How is that more "incorrect" than the future you are hoping for?