D.A.R.E: Drug and Resistance Education

From the time that I was old enough to have "drugs" in my vocabulary I have been taught to conceive drugs as bad thing. In my personal experience in elementary school we had a D.A.R.E program specifically for the purpose of educating us about the harms of drugs and drug use. This, from what I understand, or something similar is used throughout Minnesota. It is socially accepted in our culture to try and influence kids into taking a position on the subject of drugs. At that age we are "forced" to take and act on the premise that drugs are bad.

How is it than that people do marijuana if our bodies were taught to portray them as bad and harmful, as objects that only bring pain and hardship not pleasure? Why would anyone want to attempt to put such a substance into their body? Howard Becker puts it perfectly in that it has to be "learned". It can be related to almost any subculture of our modern day society. If you join a recreational sport for the first time you are going to be hesitant, you'll learn the hierarchy of the team that is separate from society before making any bold moves. A new marijuana user will be taught how to perceive being high by those who have already learned or by a preconceived perception that being "high" is enjoyable.

What then makes a user continue to smoke after he/she has "learned" how to? For one I believe it is partially just because we as humans are creatures of habit. This can be shown very simply by where someone sits in a classroom. On the first day of class where ever someone sits is most likely where he or she will sit the next few days and even entire semester. I know because i'm guilty of doing it. But I also believe that it is because smoking is addictive, not in the chemical sense that without THC the user would not be able to function normally and go into withdrawal but that the user gets a sense of familiarity when partaking in the action. Eventually it becomes a body practice in which the user is doing it in an almost unconscious state similar to but maybe not as extreme as always turning a light off when leaving a room. It is an action that you perform but you don't conscientiously tell yourself to do it.