Mary Jane Goes Global

by Ebun Lawore

Illustration by Emma

Oberlin is a bubble in the way that at any moment of the day, our campus is surrounded by a cloud of smoke. Weed smoke, to be specific. Whether it's the middle of the school day on Wilder Bowl, or at the window of a co-op dorm room, someone is always blazing up.

I wasn’t shocked by this part of our school's culture when I first arrived here. In my experience, everyone I grew up with has tried, or at the very least been around weed, since the time they were fifteen. After all, it's legal in about half of the states, and in those states there are smoke shops on every corner. But, after speaking to some of my non-american friends, I realized that this is not the case for everyone.

I interviewed 3 different international Oberlin students to ask them about what weed culture is like back home, and how that compares to their Oberlin experience. In order to keep their identities  anonymous, I will be using the aliases Flower, Grass, and Bud. 

When was the first time you got high?

Flower (European):

 The first time I got high was in my second semester of college. I hit my roommate's demon cart from Doobies and that shit snapped, crackled, and popped down [my] throat.

It was the first time I ever watched Zootopia and I was high as fuck. I was really shocked when the sheep at the end turned out to be evil. I lost my fucking shit.

It was a good high though. I was nervous. I coughed like fuck, and I still do. But I was nervous that I was gonna green out. But like, I stayed in my room the whole time. I had my projector on, it was really chill, and I was with friends who had smoked before. So I had a level of security there.

Grass (South Asian):

 For me, I first smoked weed when I was like, [in] tenth grade. I was kind of paranoid, ‘cause my parents are doctors. And I felt like if they could smell shit I would be fucked.

Bud (South Asian):

 The first time I ever smoked weed was during my first semester.

And, okay. I was dumb as fuck.

My dumb ass thought, you know, 'cause I smoked nicotine, that I would feel it as soon as I hit it. Like nicotine. So what I did was I took seven hits. And every single hit I inhaled fully and kept in my lungs for four seconds each time.

And then I was like, wait, I have never felt this before. If I don't go to my room right now, I will start acting fucking crazy.

I tell [my roommate] that I am so high. I'm so scared. I genuinely believe that my heartbeat is going at rocket speed. I was like, I'm gonna end up in the fucking hospital. I thought I was about to die.

The trip lasted three hours. Then it was all over. And I was like, what the fuck did I just do?

[After] that I actually had an aversion to weed. I just thought I hated smoking, and I liked drinking. Then I tried it again, and I just took a really small edible. And that felt okay, but I started feeling paranoid every time I was even a little high. [But then] I just started really enjoying it, 'cause I take like two hits of a joint now and I know that's good for me. Now I can be around people when I'm high and I don't feel bad. I like weed now. I think I like it more than alcohol. 

What was your first impression of weed when you were younger?

Flower:

I kind of thought it was slummy, because it's not as normalized back home to be doing it, and the people that I did know that did it, like, I didn't really have a good view of.

In my head it was quite a bit worse than alcohol, ‘cause it's not legal. You can get imprisoned for having it on you. I think up to like 15 years for dealing or growing it, which is crazy.

Grass:

 When I was younger, I was like, you know, addicts, they have no future in life or something. [But] when I first hit my joint, I was like, fuck it, it’s not bad. 

Bud:

 Like, drugs were like a big no. I put it in the same category as cocaine.

 What do you think about smoking weed now? 

Flower:

Now, I think my views have really changed, 'cause after I moved in with my sister, the two roommates that I moved in with both were stoners, but they were, like, a really good kind of stoner. They'd get high as fuck after work and play board games with me when I was like 13. So I think I was open to it much more [as a] “you can just chill and relax” kind of thing.

And then I got a boyfriend. His parents grew it, and the house fucking reeked of weed. They never thought I knew though, which is funny. I did kind of look at them a bit sideways for that. But I think even as I got older, I had a more normalized view of it, but definitely not as much as most people do here.

What is weed culture like back home?

Grass:

 It's pretty dope. It's pretty fun. Everyone has to keep it lowkey. If someone gets caught, they’d probably go to jail. I think it's illegal to smoke but everyone does it.

Bud:

 I never smoked weed in high school. None of my friends did until, like, senior year.

Some of my friends smoked with someone's older brother for the first time. It was a big deal. But in general, I feel like it's not prevalent at all amongst high schoolers, like not at all. I knew that adults smoked weed. But other than that, it's not that accessible. You have to find a dealer or something, and it's not that easy to get. 

What did you think about weed culture in America before coming here?

Flower:

I knew more about weed culture in Canada. I went to Canada before, and I saw people just had it in their houses, and I was like, holy shit. Criminals. I was like, that's fucking crazy that you just have it in your house. And you can order off the government website in Canada. That's insane to me. 

I was surprised at how lax it was here, because you guys are so intense about other things.

It's like, why are you so chill about weed. Like it didn't really make sense to me.

Everybody back home, you have your first drink, probably at like 13, 14. I know a lot of people who still haven't [smoked weed]. Like, it's not normalized to be doing it so young. Whereas here, like, oh my god. I feel like everyone [here] started [smoking] at fucking 14. 

Grass:

 I [hadn’t] heard anything much about it except for movies. Like, you know, gangster culture. It [was] a cool thing that people do in America.

I had no idea how [weed] culture would be different from back home. I would say that when I came on campus, I realized people love to smoke weed more than smoking cigarettes, but back home you do both.

Bud:

 I knew it was much more chill. I grew up watching a lot of American media, so I knew that. 

I'd never thought, at least when I was younger, that I would smoke.

So what changed? 

Just coming here, and realizing how normal it actually is.

Do your friends and family back home know that you smoke weed while you're here?

Flower:

My friends know, and they think it's funny because none of my friends smoke weed back home.

They think I'm this big American stoner. My family don't like it, but they do know. They don't like it. I think equally because it's illegal here and I'm an immigrant, and also because it's weed, and they just don't like that I'm smoking it.

Bud:

 My family does not know, and I would not tell them. 'Cause they think of drugs as, like, crazy. 

All of my friends, at this point, have done it. But they don't get access to it. I wanted to smoke with my friends when I went back home, [but] we couldn't, because we couldn't find it anywhere.

What is your favorite way to get high?

Grass:

[Both] hookah and bong.

At the same time?

Yes.

Bud:

 I would say joint or bong. 

Flower:

Oh my God. It depends what I wanna do. If I want to be alone [and] listen to music, I wanna hit my strawberry lemonade cart. But if I'm hanging with people, I wanna smoke a joint. The bong is fun, but I'm not comfortable enough with it yet. And same with the bowl. To be fair, I hit a bowl the other day. That shit felt like drinking a warm drink on a cold day. It just slid down my throat.