GC+Mentor+Maura's+Thoughts+on+the+Drug+Problem

Personal Thoughts/Observations

Marijuana is the new cigarettes -it's cool because it's illegal -they are nearly as easy to get ahold of, especially in Massachusetts where it is decriminalized -the youth culture celebrates it i.e. based on his music videos, you'd think Wiz Khalifa was sponsored by marijuana. It is worse than the movies made in the 60's where every badass kid smoked.

Most casual users only smoke when they are already drunk, "cross-fading." Which in some ways is worse because people get the feeling that they "cancel each other out."

Literally every college dorm in Boston smells of weed on a daily basis, so if you want to not use, you are going to have to get used to it being shoved in your face every day.

It's hard to say which drugs are the most destructive. Honestly, of the commonly used ones, I would say alcohol, not weed. No one has ever died of a weed overdose. Many more violent crimes were committed drunk than high. You cannot blackout high. Weed is only addictive in a few cases.

Addictiveness: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-teenage-mind/201012/is-marijuana-addictive

Of course, the biggest speed bump in solving anything is the complete inability to enforce these laws. There will always be the kids who go on "camping trips" to Maine and come back with a gram of weed, make brownies for their friends to recoup the cost of the $10 they'll smoke themselves. There will always be older siblings to buy handles of Svedka. Laws do very little. It is like putting your mouth to a fire hydrant. I know kids who have literally had OVER $100 WORTH OF EDIBLES MAILED TO THEIR DORM from a friend with a club card in California. You have to be stupid to get caught. Northeastern is one of the strictest schools in Boston, and only the idiots or the very unlikely get caught.

I think the only solution would have to come from a change in culture. I would welcome this type of change because I am sick of hearing kids talk about how "BRO WE SO DOPE. MA BOY HARRIS MADE ME A 4-GRAM JOINT FOR MA B-DAY, AND I SMOKED ALL DAY ERRY DAY FOR A WEEK STRAIGHT." That does not make you cool, it makes you obnoxious. Likewise the kids who brag about blacking out and vomiting all over the city. I accept this reality in college, because I believe by age 19 people have more or less reached adulthood, and if they want to waste the $150,000 worth of loans they are taking out to go to school, by failing a few semesters getting crunk every weekend and high every weekday, more power to them. I would be sad to see high schoolers and middles schoolers affected by seeing these people and thinking they are cool. Real adults can do this stuff in moderation. There is nothing cool about immature overdosing. There is a tendency for cultural trends to seep down from college students to high schoolers to middle schoolers. It is seen in Facebook, in grinding at dances, etc. By the way, the grossest thing ever is 11-year old girls grinding on their "boyfriends'" junk. ENJOY YOUR CHILDHOOD. DANCE AGE APPROPRIATELY. FIND YOUR ENTERTAINMENT FROM SOMETHING OTHER THAN ALCOHOL AND WEED. YOU HAVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE FOR THAT SHYT, WHEN YOUR BRAIN IS FULLY DEVELOPED. When the media and youth culture start emphasizing that these are not activities for kids, then maybe something can change.