Dear Editor,

I began altering my brain’s chemistry with marijuana at what some would say too young of an age. Around the age 14 years old I developed a hobby of getting high as a form of escape from the unhappy moments in my reality.

The high never really made me happy, but it did make me feel something other than unhappy, and at the time that was good enough for me.

By the end of high school I became a professional ‘stoner’. My hobby became a habit and a part of my coping mechanism for stress and pain, but it came at a cost. The cost of me having to maintain this economically taxing habit proved difficult because my time and money would just go up in smoke, literally.

Still, despite the financial challenge, the cons never seemed to outweigh the pros.

However, the consequences that came with my habit never matched up to my experience of bliss, euphoria and calm. That realisation of how bad of a reputation the plant has in comparison to my experience, which never was as bad, made me grow to love it even more.

My mom never wanted me to become addicted to weed, neither did my dad, but they were the ones inflicting most of my emotional wounds. So their advice fell on deaf ears.

I grew an affinity for marijuana, defending it by having the mindset of being able to function and succeed in life while being high.

Ironically, the activity that people said would harm me was what helped me heal through the hurt and pains caused by the said people saying weed would harm me.

 Growing up my enthusiasm for life was not always matched by the people around me, so my reaction was to become introverted, having the ability to alter my perceptions at will — really making other people become fascinating to me, thus balancing out my introverted nature with extroverted tendencies like starting groups and meeting new people.

Years into my journey with marijuana I notice that whenever I had to do something I’d assume it to be hard or stressful; a strong desire to get high would then kick in. Noting the symptoms of addiction and dependency,  I then set out to regulate my drug use by placing the activity in an incentive (reward) system.

I would not let myself give into the urge of being high unless my chores had been done and I had my day in order. Despite having achieved a level of responsibility and self-control I still experienced harsh judgement and discrimination from my elders, but that just made me settle into the role of embracing marijuana even more.

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Now I have the desire to balance having marijuana as an optimal part of my lifestyle by finding functional and healthy uses for the plant. Currently, I am on day three of my tolerance break to allow my body to self-regulate the chemicals, and I feel great — regardless of the fact that I am sober. Natural highs are great, too. But, Oh, consider it being responsible and living great with marijuana.