I was discussing the whole issue of legalizing drugs with my 15-year-old daughter the other day, and I asked her: “if you could buy joints on aisle C of Walgreen’s, would more teenagers smoke pot or fewer?”
Her answer: “almost nobody would smoke pot if you could get it at Walgreen’s. It wouldn’t be cool anymore.”
This is obviously not a scientific question, nor a scientific answer, but I tend to agree with her. I remember what it was like to be a teenager, and the key issue was doing what was cool. It is cool to sneak away from the high school campus and smoke pot. It is not cool to go to Walgreen’s and buy something that anybody else can buy.
California voted down completely legalizing Marijuana last November, so the country is not anywhere near the time when you will be able to buy joints at Walgreen’s. But medical marijuana in various states makes pot much more available.
By the way, my daughter says she has never smoked pot, and I believe her. But most of her friends have, she says, using every kind of bong, pipe and vaporizer imaginable.