Stop saying, “Everyone smokes!”

Based on a survey, 57% of Morton East students don’t smoke week; 43% of Morton East students smoke weed.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that in 2019, 37% of US high school students reported lifetime use of marijuana and 22% reported use in the past 30 days.  

We asked random students walking the halls of Morton East whether they smoked weed or not and why.  

“I smoke weed just for fun,” one Morton East female student said.

Most people smoke weed to feel “high.” Some people say feeling ‘high’ makes them feel chilled out and happy in their own thoughts, while others say it makes them giggly and chatty. But, it can also make people feel lethargic, unmotivated and some people become paranoid, confused and anxious. 

We’ve all seen students here at school “high”. We witness them in the school bathroom. 

“I smoke to feel good during school; it gets me through the day. It makes me feel calmer throughout the day,” one Morton East female student said. 

“I smoke weed because it’s fire,” one Morton East male student said. 

Students say things like this because they don’t have an actual reason as to why they do it. The students just try to fit in with their friends. 

But, a lot of Morton East students are also anti- smoking.  Most students tend to make the right decision to not smoke. 

“That stuff is bad for you; it messes you up,” one Morton East male student said. 

Some students were hesitant because they believed we would “snitch” on them to the school.

“Why do you want to know?” a group of Morton East male students said.

Some people we went up to didn’t take the interview seriously; that could’ve skewed the survey scores.