HELLO AGAINNNNNNNNNNNNN! So it's pretty late, but because my project is due uh, next week? It's time for me to pull a much needed all nighter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So expect me to be a little bit off tomorrow. I'm not sure if that's going to be bouncing off the walls like bugs bunny crazy, or just dead tired. So we'll see what happens!
The Connection
As you can tell by the title, we're start sociology at the veryyyyyyyyyyy beginning; with the family! The family really does play a huge part in a child's socialization. It's the very first contact we have, and we learn practically everything from them; our core values, our habits, what's right and what's wrong... But how does this relate to Marijuana and children smoking it? Well in all honesty, if you're from a family that is against drugs and anything bad and you happen to be a good child (like me) who always listens to your parents, then the probability of you trying it is low. It may be because you have respect for your parents wishes, or that it's just been so pounded into you from the very beginning that you've just become accustomed to saying no to drugs (again, like me). But then what about children from not so good families? Or rather, families that have been largely absent from their lives? Also, what about families that promote smoking weed? What happens with these kids?
Absent and Not-so-good Families
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Stewie from Family Guy surrounded by people in a.. thing full of weed.
Monkey see Monkey do anyone? |
If you read my soci paper, yes all 10 pages of it, you'll be able to understand this correlation right away. But since no one has time to read 10 pages right now, I GUESS I could give you the condensed version. Basically, if you have trouble making parents, you're most likely gonna be a trouble making kid. You know the phrase, monkey see monkey do? Well, think of children as those monkeys. They see their parents, or whatever main role model they have in their lives, do bad things, in most case scenarios the child will end up doing the exact same thing. Why? Because monkey see, monkey do. CHILDREN ARE SO DAMNED IMPRESSIONABLE! You say one swear word, and it's held against you your whole life. But my point is, if a child sees their parents doing it it's a thousand (not to scale) times more likely that a child will copy their actions.
Now, a child belonging to an absent family is a bit different, and a bit more difficult than monkey see, monkey do. It's also strongly incorporated into deviancy, which I'll get into a bit later. Basically though, the child rearing process has a LOT to do with how a child grows up. According to a study done by informaheathcentre, delinquent drug users have lower parental monitoring. This doesn't necessarily mean that the parents are always absent from a child's life, but enough so that there's very little monitoring and seem to not really care what their child is in to, or have very little knowledge of it. You all knows these people; children who can get away with doing practically anything and not getting seriously in trouble by their parents; be it skipping school, getting suspended, going to parties, or doing drugs. However, there are still teens who even though strongly monitored by parents, they may still have friends that aren't the best influences. And THIS, is what our next post will be about :D
Buuuuuuuuuuuut we have one more approach to cover. SORRY.
Families that Promote Weed (Culture Socialization as well as Family)
Children that are born into families who promote weed are ten times more tricky than other families. If you think about it, in Canada the amount of parents who want their kids getting in to drugs isn't that high (get it? high? making a reference to weed here peopleee). However in other places where it's acceptable to smoke weed, like India or Jamaica, how would their parents teach them? Do you think they'd say "here son, smoke this blunt!" like it's nothing? Or would they have even stricter rules? In India, we know it's a social custom to smoke marijuana, and it's even a drink! So even though it may seem like this kind of upbringing is looked down in Canada, there's actually lots of positives to this. First off, if children are more familiar with weed from the time they're little kids, they're learn more about it and how to control their urges for it. They won't see it as such a big deal when they're with their friends, either. Unlike our kids these days, who are just coming into high school and are exposed to drugs, kids in places like India won't see it as such a big deal because they've been around it since they were born. This however can have a HUGE negative; Can you guess? Well, since these kids are used to Marijuana, they'll be getting into even harder drugs when they reach high school age. A BIG NO NO.
Rastafarian's (Cultural Socialization and Family)
Rastafarian's are a HUGE culture in Jamaica; it's basically Christianity for black people. They believe that Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, is the Black messiah who appeared in human form to free the blacks from the redemption of the whites. For Rastafarian's, Ethiopia is the Promised Land. This movement took place around 1930-1933.
There once was a man by the name of Leonard Howell. Leo (for short) launched the movement of the Rastafarian's in 1940 and recruited about 1600 people and moved them to the hills of St. Cathrine. This was basically a cult, and they called themselves the "Ethiopian Salvation Society". For a living, the people he brought over grew cash crops, including ganja (weed). Even today, many Rastafarian's keep to this.
Ganja has become sort of like the Cross to them; it's their religious symbol. Today, it's believed that Ganja is a holy herb that let's them loosen up their heads and see themselves as black people without all the pre-conditioned forces of the European society. Ganja's the key to new understandings of the self, universe, and of course God. It brings you to a level that you can't perceive without it, and it brings about fusion with all living beings. At least, that's what they believe.
So why does this matter?
Well, it's a culture surrounded by weed. How doesn't it matter. However just like I mentioned before, bringing weed into a child's life at a young age has it's benefits. It's just like India; the children are already used to it so they won't depend on it as much or be so affected by it. However, the negatives of this is also the same; because weed, the gateway drug, has already been exposed to them, the children will go looking for other new things to experience.
Works Cited:
Dishion, Thomas J., and Rolf Loeber. "Adolescent Marijuana and Alcohol Use: The Role of Parents and Peers Revisited." The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 11 (1995): n. pag. informa healthcare. Web. 11 Jan. 2013.
Spicer, Leah. "Historical and Cultural Uses of Cannabis and The Canadian "MarijuanaClash"." Parliament of Canada Web Site - Site Web du Parlement du Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2013. <http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/371/ille/library/spicer-e.htm>.
Did you know that the average teen listens to 3.5-4 hours of music everyday? From the radio, Ipods, phones, TV's, and especially Youtube, music is one of the most fundamental part of a teens' life. We listen to it when we study, read, do homework, even when we're in a boring class. Some people (like myself) listen to music to help them sleep, and when I wake up in the morning. It's a daily routine, and there really isn't anything wrong with that. Some songs though can be quite dangerous; Because music is such a big part of our lives, we've become influenced by it. Violent, abusive music is one form of dangerous music in our society. Music that talks about rape, suicide, and drug use are just other forms of it. Because my topic is on weed, it's only fair for me to mention the dangerous affects that come with listening to this risky form of music.
Weed is most prevalent in rap music, however it's also in reggae music, jazz music, and heavy metal. Of course that's not all the genres, but definitely the most common. These days, especially in rap, music seems to be about the same old thing; money sex and drugs. What do kids seem to be in to these days? Money, sex, and drugs. Hmmm. I wonder why that could be. It's been proven that when kids listen to so much music that involve drugs and sexual activities, it's highly likely that it's contributing to a child's drug usage and sexual activity. Basically, the more risky music a child listens to, the more likely they are to take part in those risky activities. Teens who listen to more music that involve marijuana are more likely smoke it, and escalate to a higher usage of the drug. That is, compared to teens who hardly listen to music involving weed. 
