Ok, so recently we read this article by Howard Becker written in the 1950's about how a person becomes a marijuana user. The biggest point is that people don't really know how to get high, or what high feels like, unless they are taught what it is and have a positive experience with other pot smokers. In this sense, smoking pot is socially constructed, it is made what it is to the specific subject or user based on the experience he or she has with their "friends."
In class, I discussed with a guy named Al about how in a way, we already do have an idea of what it would be like, even if we don't smoke pot. We all have our own idea of what a typical high person is like. The first thing that comes to my mind is a guy sitting on a couch, in baggy clothing with a glassy look in his eyes, long dirty hair, and a general sloth like movement while eating a bag of Cheetos. These features serve as typical inter-textualities, the things that signify a guy smoking marijuana. At the time, I agreed, that I could probably know how I would act or what I would do if I smoked pot.
But recently I have had to reconsider. I came up on a group of my friends who like to use marijuana. But they were anything but slow and "chill." They were running around, playing basketball (although terribly) and moving with the energy of a juvenile chimp. One of them was way more high than the others, but he was still jumping and climbing the basketball hoop. I have seen my same friends high on a different day, being lazy on the couch.
In the end, I agree with Howard Becker. But I think there is more to it than simply who someone is with when they smoke, it also depends on where people are when they smoke.
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