Pot Smoker

Weeding the Truth

Story Highlights

-Some describe themselves as successful pot smokers

-The negative effects of smoking marijuana

-Using marijuana for physical ailments

-Breaking the stoner stereotype

* student names have been changed

Inhale. Breath it all in. Exhale.

1,2,3 and you have your cure, your release or your despair.

For Kendra Nelson release is her goal

“I smoke everyday. It calms my nerves. I usually smoke when I come home for the day,” Nelson said.

Kendra Nelson is an upperclassmen at California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo. She is the president of two clubs on campus and running to be president of her fraternal organization.

She is also a habitual smoker.

“I began smoking in 8th grade so about 7 years ago,” Nelson said.

Nelson rejects the stereotypical image of marijuana users and argues that she is far from that persona.

“That definitely does not apply to me. I’m the opposite. There are people that smoking hinders their ability to get things accomplished or get motivated to do things. I have the motivation and the drive to succeed in life,” Nelson said. “I want to go places and to get to where I want to be I have to be on top of my game. I don’t have room for errors or room to skip out on something.”

Nelson also acknowledges that smoking keeps her calm and relaxed after a stressful day, optimizing her performance.

“I’m a pretty productive person,” Nelson said. “Smoking weed just calms me down and I still get my stuff done. I do my homework and study when I’m smoking. I personally feel like I get a lot done. Smoking doesn’t effect my ability to do so.”

For Nelson, smoking is just a part of her lifestyle but not her life. Smoking yields her good results and falls short of ruining her abilities to live life to the fullest.

“I get just as much done sober as I do when I’m smoking. Personally I would say I am very successful pot smoker,” Nelson said. “I’m motivated. I’m not lazy. I work out. I’m involved in a lot of things on campus. I’m definitely involved and smoking does not affect my abilities whatsoever. “

The Bad.

However, for some smoking marijuana has more dire results, and abilities are highly affected.

The National Institute for Drug Abuse reports that marijuana use can cause mental impairment, adverse impacts on learning, and impaired judgment.

The National Institute for Drug Abuse reports these conditions and many more to be the consequences of cannabis consumption.

“Amotivational syndrome”

Alteration of heart rate

Anxiety, panic attacks, and paranoia

Impaired short memory, perception, and motor skills

Respiratory problems

Hormone problems

Still, there are people that show little to none of these effects.

Successful Smoker

For Laura Wilcox the unwanted effects of marijuana and how a person experiences them are subjective.

“I feel like it’s personal preference, your background, and what environment you were raised in,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox is a senior at California Polytechnic University who began smoking right after high school and claims that a person takes on the stoner stereotype depending on their lifestyle.

“Were motivated, were in college, we know we have things to do, careers,” Wilcox said. “Weed isn’t our main priority. There are people that don't even go to school and just smoke weed all day. Its like, you still got to be doing something. Smoking weed is not a career.”

Anna Ferrari, a junior at California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo agrees that your personality has a lot to do with how you chose to experience marijuana.

Ferrari says that marijuana has helped her actually improve her grades, by allowing her to stress a little less.

“It’s definitely increased my grades. I’ve had higher grades smoking weed. It allows me to relax when I need to relax so I’m not constantly stressed out. I have two jobs, I have 18 units and I have straight A’s.”

She believes that weed isn’t the only to blame for making a person a stereotypical stoner.

“I think it’s a certain personality,” Ferrari said. “I can’t just not do anything.”

The Root of the Stoner

For Nathan Largo weed is utilized doing nothing, for relaxing.

“I guess that’s where you can get the lazy stoner thing from because when I am in that state of mind I don’t want to do anything but chill out.”

Nathan Largo a senior at California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo is a Dean’s List student and vice president of one of the largest organizations on campus.

“Right now I’m going to light this up and it’s only because I’ve had a stressful day and I don’t want to do anything besides melt out and relax,” Largo said.

Although Largo does acknowledge that many do get caught up in the carelessness he says that it does not mean everyone ends up in that rut.

“You have to have the right kind of mindset,” he said.

Largo also uses marijuana to ease physical pain.

“I have physical chronic back pain and literally any kind of heavy body high will totally numb that out or ease it over or at least get my mind away from thinking about that kind of pain,” Largo said.

Kaleb Dower a junior Engineering student at California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo also use marijuana for medical uses.

“I can’t sleep. It helps me knock out.”

Dower began smoking in 8th grade but claims that marijuana has not negatively impacted his academics.

“I’m very high functioning. It’s relaxing. It calms me down. I’m doing a lot of stuff and I just need a break.”

Dower claims he’s just one of the many students with heavy loads that partake in smoking.

“I don’t know any engineer that doesn’t smoke,” he said.

Largo and Dower utilize marijuana for relaxing, unwinding, and easing physical ailments but marijuana has many more uses.

Medical Gold

Jessica White a patient coordinator and medical assistant at Compassionate Care San Luis Obispo says that marijuana has a list of medical uses and opportunities for use.

“CBD and CBNs are what were seeing now have medical research,” she said.

Cannabis is being used for conditions such as

Cystic fibrosis

Irritable bowel syndrome

Endometriosis

Eczema

Psoriasis

Lupus

Arthritis

Fibromyagia/Fibrotosis

Diarrhea

Knee, ankle, and foot surgery

Click here for a more extensive list

Medical Marijuana has many consumption options to meet the needs of all the patients.

“There are many options. We recommend for patient to not inhale the medication. There are capsules, there are edibles, vitamin water infused with the medication. Just about anything you can think of,” White said.

The benefits of cannabis consumption for medical purposes carries many benefits in itself.

“ It’s way more cost efficient than the pharmaceuticals,” said White.“The amount of pharmaceuticals I see patients taking, after a years time, they’ve reduced those medications that have been in their bodies and they’ve been spending money on. I have really ill people come back later taking nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Although marijuana has it’s benefits it also has it’s downfalls and White is aware of the negative effects on mental cognition but believes it’s only under certain conditions.

“ It’s what age the patient starts medication. So, if they’re under their adolescent years and they start medicating there are definitely cognitive repercussion,” she said.

White also believe the stoner stereotype can be explained. White says it is caused by many different reason from the type of weed a person is consuming to how a person’s body reacts to it.

“There’s definitely that property that makes people sleep. It affects everybody differently too. So, there’s a lot of science and research being done.”

Marijuana has it good, it’s bad, and it’s lazy but the stereotypical stoner is just not applicable to every consumer of cannabis.

White urges people to keep an open mind about marijuana consumption.

“I just like to encourage people to be more open minded about it and just be educated,” White said. “Just educate themselves and see, because I think it has a world of possibilities. “