2. A Denver high school

I'm Miss Straight during the day, but at midnight I turn into your everyday teenage marijuana user. Parties and all. There is no set schedule with me, or with most of my friends, about smoking. If someone has it, we smoke. If they don't, well, we'll stay straight. I would say on the average that I smoke about three or four times a week, especially on the weekends. I doubt if anyone smokes on a set schedule.
    Smoking has the best effect on me when there is a party. It seems there are so many people to meet and talk to. Any act of craziness is not looked at like craziness at a party because everyone knows exactly how everyone else feels. There is much better communication when people are smoking. For instance, if Jim and John were directly opposite each other on the subject of capital punishment, and if both of them smoked until they were reasonably high and then discussed the subject, each would give in a little on their stands until, eventually, the two would come to a kind of agreement on the subject. This sounds strange, but it happens.
    Marijuana relaxes your mind and allows new feelings and ideas to come in. It seems your mind is at peace with itself. Sometimes I look into the mirror and say, "Well, what are you? A dope head or a nice, goody-goody secretary?" I'm both. I fully enjoy my job at the bank, and I have my best times when I'm stoned. I hope no one ever asks me to pick between the two, because I couldn't. Also, when I'm straight, there are certain things or actions that I would never think of doing. For example, I doubt if I would ever kiss d total stranger for any reason. But if I was smoking, it wouldn't seem too terribly bad, and in fact, I probably would. I don't mean to say pot lowers your values, but it just lets you expand and realize new dimensions.
    Anything you do is more exciting, more fun, and more terrific when you're stoned. Trying to tell someone the way you feel about them is more romantic, more evident, and much greater when you're high. It seems easier to express your feelings, not just about love but about everything. You feel more open and relaxed about your views. You try hard to express your feelings, at least harder than when you're straight.
    I have a very good relationship with my mother. She knows I get high and I tell her about my experiences. Marijuana is basically like anything else. If you don't know about something, you fear it. You keep fearing it until you experience it. Then you think you were silly for being afraid. She also has seen me when I was extremely high. I asked her to ask me a few questions about things that had definite answers—age, address, names of relatives. I answered them just as quickly and just as accurately as when I'm straight. My skills are not lowered by the effects. For example, I can take shorthand at 140 wpm. I can take it at 140 wpm when I'm stoned too, with the same amount of accuracy. I don't misspell words, forget periods, or anything else like that.
    There are several reasons why people are believed to smoke pot. The first and most widely used cop-out is as an escape. I have no problems that are bad enough to use marijuana to escape from. Even if I did, I would not use pot as a means of escape. That's ridiculous. Another reason people give you is because it's cool or to make it with the crowd. Cool is what's cool to you. If I want to run naked on the streets, I am going to. But because I want to, not because everyone else does it.
    People don't smoke pot because it's the newest thing or because everyone else on their block is doing it. They do it because they like it and it's right for them. As the old song goes, "you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself." Pot is not addictive, so there can't be a physical need for it. People don't realize that some people do things because they simply enjoy it, not because they have serious problems, or because the rest of the family does it. Also, a lot of people think the reason kids start on pot is because they are pushed by society. No one makes them hold the joint and no one forces them to toke on it. The choice is (or at least it should be) made by each person.