Get your lighters, roll that sticky, let's get higher!

Those who are in the high school/college student age range are socially constructed to believe that smoking pot is the cool thing to do. Being a freshman, a common question floating around when meeting new people is “do you smoke?” If you say no, that person may not even be interested in becoming friends anymore because it is one way that they cannot identify with you. In Howard Becker’s article, he argues that a person must be taught the proper techniques in order to become high. With all of the peer pressure presented in the teenage years, I feel that it is easy for us to learn how to get high. Whenever I hear first timer’s stories, the majority of them start off with someone who has a lot of experience. I am also in this category. My older brother thought it would be a great idea to show me the ropes and the subculture of becoming a marijuana user at quite a young age. Although he doesn’t fall into the stereotypical look of someone who smokes pot, a lot of my friends do. We tend to identify those who smoke weed as people with long hair, clothes 3 sizes too big, and school drop outs. Also, in the article and as a society, we signify someone being high when they laugh at everything, are very hungry, and become lazy. The article claims that smoking pot isn’t addictive and I agree with this statement. I think most people go through a phase where they want to fit in, so they have their fun throughout the teenage years, but when they find a job they want to keep, they can easily quit. People may even have a different outlook on smoking since they could now be socially constructed to think it is not professional.