I would say i come from a fairly open household. I was not sheltered (but never got upto anything anyway!), but we were very run of the mill. I was always active doing various recreational activities (fishing, bushwalking, skating etc).. My parents were quite liberal, i was exposed to alcohol quite young but i never thought of doing it as fun...
When i was in highschool i skated alot and had friends who would smoke, but i never felt the need to. I tried cigerettes which i didnt like much. We had 'just say no' kind of lectures but to be honest, it never really seeded anything in my head... I had always just assumed drugs were not my thing, and there wasnt a place for them in my life. None of my parents or close close friends did anything. i got injured yr9 and was unabl to do anything recreational anymore - so i swapped over to computers and that occupied alot of my spare time. In yr10-12 my friends and i would drink on friday nights, then i started clubbing and people would talk about pills, but once again, i didnt feel the need.
I guess it was around 18-19 when i first tried weed. But i didnt have much success with my virgin lungs and a gatorade bong - so over the next 3 years i did it maybe a half a dozen times. Everytime though i wasnt satisfied and didnt see the big deal.. It wasnt until i had my first brownies that i thought, wow! This was around the same time i took my first pill which i also loved.. Thinking back to my DARE lessons, these never really had an effect on me or were stigmatised anymore then say ciggerttes. I guess in the end curisoty + opportunity got the better of me. My friends who smoked never peer pressured or anything like that, they would offer and be cool when i declined.
When i got my first job i stayed with one of my workmates who i found of smoked almost daily. It was really funny cause i never imagined, he earned 300+k and the job was fairly mentally demanding. I guess this was th first time i realised u could smoke and still be on top of your game.. But at the sma time, some of my other friends had started smoking heavily everyday, and i could see the changes in them and thre personalitys - so this lifestyle wasnt for me.
3 years later, this is where i am at. I used to drink alot more when partying, but i have cut that back alot and replaced it with weed. No more caffine or energy drinks either, i was the hight of absithe + redbull, i was the postchild of bing drinking. These days I do the limbo of not eating away at my brain by smoking to much, and in turn i have learnt sooooooooo much about myself, life and even work. Smoking does not make me smarter, it makes me alot less coordinated/dumber, but it gives me a diffrent perspective on life that i was sooooo blind to before. And this is the big appeal to me. It switches me to anything space, another time. It takes alot of my social inhibitions away and everything sems less complex... this is a good thing!
I also have a bad back and i use weed medcinaly to control pain. No smoking before work or things like that, i want to keep it kind of sacred and i want to keep the fun alive. When i notice the fun slipping away, i stop or try and change things up.
One thing weed had defaintly gotten me into is the culture. Im fairly outspoken on governemnt policy or anything really (global warming). I walk around in public and i toke on Js. I dont care who sees or smells it. I try and represent the culture of weed in a positive light cause lots of people (including my gf) grew up with stupid people who smoked alot and became nothing but older stupid people. I try and show them that those kind of people would be still be stupid, even if they didnt smoke.. and i try and show them that you can be smart and successful while still smoking..
Would i care if my kids did? I would be a fairly liberal parent who would try and teach my kids that anything in moderation is OK - always know ur limits and always know the dangers. I would be disapointed if they started smoking in there teeens and i would probbaly make a deal with them to stop until they had graduated. I do belive that weed is a powerful drug, and that it shouldnt be experienced until you are mentally fit. im quite happy i didnt do it when i was young. I find i talk to ALOT of people these days who say (inc my gf) that they smoked alot when they were a kid and dont do it anymore cause of the thoughts they get/not fun while high anymore. I this is something i want to desprately avoid, hence i read up and edcucate myself about the best ways to go about things...
) and somehow ended up reading about the drug policy of the Netherlands and that of course led to realizing that cannabis is not so bad. I did not have any interest in actually trying it though.
). Moved on to bigger and better things, crack, smack, the needle, and still maintained As and Bs with multiple APs and honours classes.