The abuse of marijuana by adolescents is of growing proportion and concern. In the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, monthly use of marijuana was reported by 14.5% of ninth graders in 1995, compared with only 4% in 1992, according to the Minnesota Student Survey. Among 12th graders, monthly marijuana use rose from 10% in 1992 to 18.5% in 1995. In both 1995 and 1996, admissions to chemical dependency treatment programs primarily related to marijuana, outnumbered admissions primarily related to cocaine.

These data quantitatively describe the magnitude of marijuana use among young people. Yet behind every data element is a personal story about the lives of those people most directly affected. What is known about the lives and stories of these young people? What can we learn from talking with them about their experiences with marijuana?

Methods

To help better understand the quantitative data, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research, sponsored interviews with young people in several cities, including Minneapolis. The purpose of the loosely structured interviews was to learn more about marijuana use by talking with and listening to the kids who use it.

In May 1997, a researcher from the Minnesota Institute of Public Health conducted in-depth interviews with eight Minneapolis youth about their experiences with and beliefs about marijuana. The youth were all from middle-income families and attended public schools. They ranged in age from 14 to 17. Five were female; three were white, three were Hispanic, and two were Native American. Most of them presently reported “good” or “very good” school performance, although in the past had experienced significant school problems attributable to substance abuse. All of these students were currently involved in a school-based peer group to help them abstain from substance abuse.

The qualitative information derived from these interviews provides a deepened understanding of the role marijuana plays in these young people’s lives, and valuable insights that could not have otherwise been obtained.

Results

Among these youth, most used marijuana for the first time around the age of 14. It was typically out of curiosity and in a group setting. Several noted how using marijuana helped them “fit in,” “goof around,” and “stop stressing,” making them less shy and more sociable. One girl said that using marijuana was “probably the easiest way to make friends.” Another girl said it made her feel “smart and dumb at the same time” and increased her sexual desires. Some students, but not all, had been under the influence of marijuana or alcohol or both while at school.

One slang term in particular reflected the young age of the users. Holding on to a burning marijuana cigarette for too long without passing it along to another person, known to an earlier generation as “Bogarting” a joint, was called “baby-sitting” a joint.

   I heard it (marijuana) was good health-wise, but I don’t know how. I saw it in this Time magazine. But I didn’t-I didn’t really read the article. I saw this grandma smoking it out of this pipe and stuff like that, and eating it. People were eating it. Patients.
-17 year-old male/11th grade

   (When using marijuana) My problems... didn’t seem to disappear but they stopped hurting for a while. All of a sudden I was part of, not apart from and they just-they made me feel really included. ...You don’t have to be yourself when you’re high. You could be something... And it’s just an easier way to get all the pressure off of trying to act right, because when you’re high you don’t have to act right, because you’re high and you don’t have to act right when you’re high.
-16 year-old female/11th grade

Availability

Marijuana was easily obtained by all students interviewed. Many reported that it was easier to acquire than alcohol, and one said that it was as easy as buying a can of soda pop. The marijuana was sold in individual joints for $3, “nickel bags” or a “five sack”, for $5 (loose marijuana in an amount equivalent to one joint to slightly more), or “dime bags” for $10. These low prices made it readily affordable to the students. One 15 year-old girl described how she would pool money with others in order to buy a $5 bag several times per day. Five of the students had sold marijuana, typically in very small amounts. Some reported selling as the primary means of financing their own marijuana or alcohol use. Most students lacked knowledge about purchasing marijuana in quantities larger than ounce bags ($100).

Perceived effects of use

These students were familiar with “blunts,” emptied-out cigars filled with marijuana, then resealed and smoked. They believed that smoking blunts “got you higher” than smoking joints or smoking from a pipe or a “bowl.” Several students made references to “honey-dipped” blunts. According to some, the honey was used only to help reseal the blunt, while others believed that the honey itself was responsible for the enhanced “high.”

Two students believed that smoking cigarettes (tobacco) after smoking marijuana increased the effects of the marijuana and “gets you higher.” One girl matter-of-factly reported that smoking tobacco after smoking marijuana “brings your high up 20 percent.”

For most of these students, the frequency of their marijuana use gradually increased, and undesirable consequences, such as conflicts with family and declining school and athletic performance, eventually ensued. Other negative consequences of marijuana use were feeling tired, lack of motivation and memory problems. A few youth reported only occasional marijuana use with alcohol as their primary drug of choice.

 It (smoking marijuana) was fun, though. You know, like the experiences where you’re walking and you feel like your legs are just stretching, and a lot of physical highs. And then it just became habitual. You know, it was beyond the point of enjoying it. It was enjoying me.
   …before I ever smoked, priorities would be like family, schooling, and like the little things like yard work and stuff. But then, when that came about, it was so fun and so new and just so different than anything else that I put it above anything else, and it would be, like I said, at the top of the list of priorities, and then the rest of the list wouldn’t even be in order... But I never really realized it until recently.
   …most people don’t know what life is going to be day to day, but when you’re a pothead, you know what life is going to be day to day. It’s like you have a goal. You have your mission-and that’s to get high. And now that I am sober, I don’t have a goal anymore. I don’t have an interest in school, so that leaves me with no goal. I don’t have my pot.
-16 year-old male/11th grade

   It (marijuana) messes people up. It messes with their heads, messes with their memories and their memory. Not their memories, their memory and their memories, their intelligence.
   ...Like right now, I mean, I have a pretty good memory but I think I still suffer from maybe, suffer from like, some effects because I have an awful time remembering things. And that wasn’t always the case.
-17 year-old female/11th grade

Parental use of marijuana

Six of the eight students reported that either one or both of their parents had themselves used marijuana. One student found and had used a pipe that belonged to her father. Several students alluded to a nonchalant attitude of their parents toward marijuana use in general, while others had clearly been told by their parents(s) that marijuana use would “mess up your life.”

   Me and my brother usually smoke. And my mom really didn’t care. She doesn’t care. I don’t know why. She just-we’ll come in there you know what I’m saying, roll joints on the table and stuff. She doesn’t say anything? Yeah. I think she should.
-17 year-old male/11th grade

Reflections on prevention and treatment

When asked if anyone or anything could have intervened to help them avert the problems they eventually experienced with marijuana, all except one youth (the youngest, age 14) said that there was nothing. They believed that no one, especially parents, could have told them anything to dissuade them from their use and experimentation. The youngest girl however, acknowledged that maybe listening to the stories of other teens who had experienced problems might have helped her avoid problems herself. In response to a question about what might have made it different for her, she stated:

   I guess that when I was in like junior high if somebody would have talked to me about the effects of weed maybe, or like what could be laced in or whatever, what they use to lace it or what’s exactly in it. Like kids, not just adults, ’cause it was annoying to hear adults always saying “Don’t do this. Don’t do that,” and stuff ’cause they don’t really know where you’re at. But if you get like a kid that’s like the same age, a teenager maybe, maybe somebody from high school that’s in a group or something that’s quitting and has gone through stuff that you’re thinking of going to do, you want to try out or anything, it might have been helpful.
-14 year-old female/9th grade

At the time of the interviews, all eight students had chosen to abstain from substance abuse and found needed support from their school-based abstinence group. Many described regrettable instances or patterns of behavior that had prompted or contributed to their desire to stop use. Speaking in reference to the abstinence peer group and being sober, one student said:

   We’re all really good friends. We’ve all grown up a lot since we stopped using. We’re the ones we can turn to when we’re having a bad day.
   I’m real now and I wasn’t then… I’m a lot better of a person. I think my morals are a lot higher now, and I don’t fail to meet my moral standards and stuff.
-16 year-old female/11th grade

Summary

These interviews illustrated what is known from other data sources, that initiation into marijuana use occurs at a young age.

One of the more striking findings is the availability of marijuana. Not only was it readily accessible, but was packaged in small, affordable quantities easily within most students’ reach.

The beliefs of these teens about marijuana and its effects were a surprising mixture of fact and fiction. Myths existed about the characteristics of various types of marijuana and the concomitant use of tobacco.

It is clear from these interviews that the effects of marijuana, the social circumstances surrounding its use, and the activity related to acquiring and selling it filled significant niches in the lives of these young people. Initially, marijuana use made them feel comfortable among their peers. With regular use, marijuana provided an ongoing context in which to belong and participate in a group and became a primary focus of their daily activities.

It is also clear that multiple problems arose related to their marijuana use. The effects moderated, performance in organized sports suffered, the social scenes were no longer as fun as they used to be, and regrettable things started happening. For these students, problems began within three years of first use. For each of these students, the school-based abstinence group offered an important source of support as they found their way out of marijuana abuse.