I must ask unusual questions in the course of my work. Asking teens why they use marijuana is one of the questions that gets some thought-provoking answers. Here are some of them:
“What kind of question is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know – to relax.”
“It’s just something to do while hanging out.”
“I just wanted to see what the big deal was.”
“My Dad says it will help me relax.”
“My Mom says it’ medicinal.”
“Alcohol, chocolate, weed – why do we use any of it?”
These are the first answers, the most spontaneous ones I hear from teens. When I persist after these answers, the tone changes. A wariness creeps into some answers, or a studied carelessness, or, in a few cases, desperation.
“Oh, it’s a serious question. Let me think.”
“Marijuana does relax me.”
“When I use weed, I feel a combination of relaxed and sort of happy and I like that.”
“I hear all these things about weed – like it will cause some terrible feelings or reactions. Sometimes, when I’m bored, I just want to see if something like that – something exciting will happen.”
“I don’t know why I use marijuana.”
“I’d like to stop – my psychosis may be caused by weed, and I hate that. It frightens me.”
“I can’t stop. I owe my dealer a lot of money and still I can’t stop.”
Questions and answers: why isn’t the correlation between them straightforward? Are there questions I could ask that would help me undersand better when a teen is at risk? Are there questions I could ask to reduce the risk of a teen using marijuana? Are there questions I could ask that could save a life?