By Mary Jane, Guest Columnist.
Marijuana is a beautiful thing, people around the nation are slowly but surely starting to see that as well. According to Marijuana Policy Project, “Fifty-seven percent of Americans live in states that have reformed their marijuana laws by allowing medical marijuana, imposing a fine — not possible jail time — on marijuana possession, or making marijuana legally available and regulated for adults’ use. With polls showing that a majority of Americans support making marijuana use legal, and with 86% support for allowing medical marijuana, lawmakers are increasingly realizing the public supports marijuana policy reforms.” In fact, there are more drug policy reform questions on the ballot this November than ever in American history.
Depending on the person and kind of weed, it affects us all differently. For most people weed will make you feel very relaxed and almost kind of sleepy. Most of your senses will indeed be heightened. For example, when high and listening to music, music sounds so different than what it would when you aren’t high. You end up paying attention to all the little sounds and hidden beats that make the song so creative and unique. Let’s not forget about taste! It seems as if when one is high, his or her appetite will never end. Basically you could eat food out of a dumpster and it will still taste like a five star meal.
Again, depending on the person it very well could affect your vision. Some people tend to get tunnel vision and for some people their vision isn’t affected at all, however, you may find that some colors and other objects are very appealing to look at.
Most people will find that they will think things are far funnier when they are high compared to when being sober. At some times it almost feels like your laughter is uncontrollable, and then you laugh even more because you realize that you’re really laughing at nothing. I think most of the time this tends to happen because when you’re high your perspective on things changes, we tend to think about things differently and a heck of a lot more in depth.
As a frequent pot smoker, it actually really makes me mad how marijuana and the effects it has on our bodies are often portrayed in movies. Movies make it almost comparable to the effects of shrooms, LSD, acid and other drugs when in fact it is nothing like that at all. In my opinion, anyone who handles their high like this or puts on some big show is just immature and asking for attention. I have been smoking marijuana since I was in the 8th grade and I am now 20 years old and in my third year of college.
Of course the first couple times you get high it will seem to have stronger effects on you because your body has no tolerance for the high, and for a lot of people it actually makes them feel uncomfortable and paranoid. When I say uncomfortable and paranoid I mean that one feels as if they are going to get caught smoking or that everyone around them notices that they are high. Now obviously that is not that case but because of the change in your thought process, one might over-analyze the situation with negative thoughts and that’s what makes you paranoid and not able to relax and enjoy the true effects.
For me, marijuana is an escape. It seems that anything I might have been worried or stressed out about all sort of just fades away and nothing is able to bother me. I notice that I fall in and out of dazes; I catch myself staring blankly at things because I am buried in my own thoughts. For me it really just depends on how much I smoke. If I smoke just a tiny amount I might just feel a nice little buzz. I can feel my body relax, my eyes relax which gives you the “high” look. My hunger sets in that’s for sure, if I wasn’t hungry before you can almost guarantee I am now.
However, if I smoke a large amount of marijuana it makes it very hard for me to stay awake, I find it incredibly hard to keep my eyes open and focus on certain things. I prefer not be quite this high, but if you have trouble sleeping or are looking to get the sleep of your life I recommend this!
Another thing that really irks me about people and their negativity towards marijuana is when I hear people say that it’s addictive. Marijuana is not anymore addictive than any other drug out there and it’s not even like one specifically NEEDS marijuana. I think based on how I feel about it that it’s not directly marijuana that is addictive, it’s the euphoric feeling of being “high” in general.
Voters themselves will get to decide marijuana policy issues this November in 3 states, the nation’s capital, and Guam. Similarly to alcohol, Alaska’s and Oregon’s voters will be deciding whether or not to legalize marijuana for adult 21 years of age and older. Washington D.C’s voters will decide whether to allow adults to grow and possess limited amounts of marijuana and in Florida and Guam voters will decide whether to allow the use of medical marijuana.
If there were more people out there that wanted to share their personal experiences with marijuana use and how it TRULY affects them, I think these percentages would increase even more. People would not be so frightened by the thought of people around them being high, and the effects it has on us.
Editor’s Note: The author of this article wished to remain anonymous
