Marijuana isn’t a substance that
suddenly interested me out of the blue. When I first heard of what marijuana
is, it was in high school and most of my friends had already experienced it or
knew what marijuana is. For me, it took a little longer to really understand
what marijuana was and the danger behind it, if marijuana was dangerous at all.
Although I didn’t grow up in a wealthy or poor area, I grew up understanding
both sides, which lead me to my curiosity.
Paul Revere Middle School was my parents’
first choice for me, which is located in the Pacific Palisades in Southern
California and most of the kids that attended Paul Revere were either wealthy
or athletic. Unfortunately, I didn’t fall into either category, but the plus
side was I was not alone. I had friends from Elementary School as well as Asian
League* friends that carpooled to Paul Revere with me. Although I had some
friends, I was surrounded by wealth, and like every kid, I had to try and fit
in, at least for the next three years. While commuting to Paul Revere five days
out of the week it was hard to try and fit into a new society of kids where no
one had problems and worried about their self image.
After three years
of adjusting to the style and mind-set of the wealthy Middle School kids, I
went to Venice High School, where both my parents also attended High School.
Venice is where I was reunited with most of my Elementary School friends and
things weren’t focused on showing off how much wealth one had. As I went to
Paul Revere, my other friends went to Palms Middle School where everyone seemed
to have learned about the “real world” and what’s really going on. Based on
Venice’s reputation, it wasn’t a surprise that marijuana was something that was
heavily known. I once again had to adjust to a new school’s surrounding, but it
was a little easier. Because of how diverse Venice was compared to Paul Revere,
Venice helped shape me the way I am. Over my four years of High School I
learned good things as well as the bad, such as marijuana. The first time I
heard of marijuana it kind of scared me because it was nothing I had ever heard
of. From my freshman year of High School to my senior year, I heard rumors of
this drug that didn’t seem real.
Although
marijuana is displayed in so many different ways, what is the truth behind
marijuana? From the first time I was first informed about the drug, until now,
I’ve heard facts as well as myths about marijuana. All the negative information
about the drug and its myths prompted me to figure what was real about
marijuana and what was fictional. My curiosity has led me to believe that there
is so much to talk about what marijuana is and everything about it, that rumors
about the drug are spread. I want inform my readers about what marijuana is
today in the United States and what the pros and cons are to smoking the drug.
* Asian League – A common reference
in the Asian Community where kids eight years old and up play basketball
throughout all of Los Angeles and some in Northern California, where the
majority of the kids were Asian.
