Felicia Ffrench, ContributorIT'S A private party consisting mainly of teenagers and young adults, the smell of marijuana permeates the air, and a cloud of smoke hangs thick near a group of young men talking and laughing raucously. Pipes and joints are passed around freely.
Many of the guests are either selling or distributing drug-related products. Displayed in one corner are some cigarettes. Two teenage girls look closely at some herbal cigarettes and ask whether they would get high by smoking them. When told 'no', one of them responds: "Why would you smoke it if it doesn't do anything?"
Fiction? Think again.
Michael, 17, a student at a very well-known high school, describes his schedule: every day after school he smokes marijuana; he then takes a nap or calls a few friends and just 'hangs out'.
Two years ago, he was a popular B+ student and he was on his school's football team. Now his report cards are filled mostly with Ds and Es and he no longer plays football.
"Ganja (marijuana) mek yuh lazy, man," he explained. "Mi nuh bodda wid di schoolwork nuh more." Even so, he admits he'll continue smoking the drug which is illegal in the country.
This has led Michael and his other friends to experiment with stronger drugs.
"Whole heap ah wi use acid," he said. When asked what that was, the reply was 'LSD - lysergic acid diethylamide.' Also asked how many of his friends smoke marijuana, he laughed.
"Bwoy, mi cyan count you nuh, too much a dem. An' ah soh it stay all 'bout."
It's another cool Sunday afternoon, a small group of teenagers are heading down to a nearby river. When I approach them, they laughingly admit that they are on their way to get high. Five minutes later they stop on the riverbank. One of them, Janet, pulls a joint from a brown paper bag, lights it and takes a deep drag.
"A day does not pass without me smoking," she says. "Weed is as common as school lunches."
A few years ago drug use among our teenagers seemed almost non-existent because an unrelenting chorus of parents, schools, the media and our national leaders made sure teens understood that drugs, starting with marijuana, were dangerous and unacceptable.
Now teens are hearing fewer of these messages because no one talks about it anymore. It seems popular culture, especially music, has portrayed marijuana as a normal, even glamorous aspect of teen life. I am a teenager and I have noticed that many of my teenage friends are involved in drugs. Where's the message?
