My first marijuana experience
Moving to the Netherlands for my studies, I was prepared to experience an increased exposure to drugs in general but especially to marijuana. Amsterdam is known for its coffee shops where tourists and locals accumulate to smoke marijuana. However, growing up in a small village in Germany, I only ever knew a few people that would smoke weed, probably also due to marijuana being illegal in Germany. The consumption of alcohol in Germany, on the other hand, is legal from the age of 16. Alcohol was all I had ever tried before moving to the Netherlands and I intended to keep it that way, even talked about it with my parents, who had warned me before about the severe consequences the consumption of marijuana can have.
My first few weeks of university went by and I got used to people smoking marijuana in the evenings on the balconies of the student campus that I live on. Interestingly enough, no one ever even tried to pressure me into smoking with them. You would of course always be offered to share the joint that would be passed around but simply shaking your head and passing it on to the next person seemed to be a socially accepted way of saying no. This behaviour was new to me and intrigued me in a way. In comparison with my past experiences of groups smoking marijuana, there seemed to be no hidden agenda, just a couple of people having a great night. Speaking to some of them, they had mostly actually done extensive research on how marijuana works on the receptors of the synapses in the brain.
That night, I went home and did my own research. The neuroscientific explanation for the effects of marijuana were mostly in line with what my friends had told me about their experiences, and yet it felt comforting to have access to objective information that would enable me to make my own judgements.
The Guardian, for example, described the risks of short-term marijuana use as ranging “from anxiety and paranoia to problems with attention, memory and coordination”. Naturally, information like this is scary but looking at positive effects only would have not given me the knowledge that I was hoping to acquire, which was knowledge that could help me estimate all potential consequences.
Even though my opinion about marijuana had changed and I was curious to try it, I did not feel the need to go for it straight away. One day while hanging out with my friends at home and watching a movie, I spontaneously decided to smoke some weed with them. None of them made a big deal out of it; they were rather supportive and gave me instructions about how to inhale properly, which turned out to be more difficult than I expected it to be. I was coughing a lot in the beginning but it felt exciting to try something new. First of all, I did not really feel that much of an effect but after I had smoked some more and the coughing had become less I started to feel oddly relaxed. I was starting to understand what people were talking about when they described how marijuana made them feel at peace with themselves and the world. Unlike being drunk, being high felt like I was still somewhat in control and aware of what I was doing, possibly even more aware since everything around me seemed to have slowed down. My altered perception was very pleasant though and not scary like I had expected it to be. Together with my friends we started to watch a New Zealand TV show called “Police ten 7” and I was convinced that it was the funniest show I had ever seen and that if everyone in the world would watch this show, we would all be happier. The negative effects that I had anticipated fortunately never occurred and after eating a huge amount of cold rice and peas, I happily went to bed and fell asleep immediately.
I smoked marijuana a couple of times after that night with equal outcomes. However, it never became a habit or something that I felt I needed to do in order to have fun. Given the accessibility of marijuana in the Netherlands, it seems to me that the fear of missing out when you are not joining your friends as they are smoking weed is less prevalent. People smoke marijuana for various reasons, some to fall asleep more easily, others want to have fun with their friends and some people, like me, are just curious to try it.
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