What is weed worth?
If you are a rapper, or a major celebrity, it is directly tied to your bank account and fame. Not that this is stated anywhere, but all one need do is look on sites like TMZ or Egotastic, and the implication is there. The bigger the cash wad, the bigger the blunt.
Weed is the new bling. It has taken the place of all the ostentatious jewelry that was once worn in the early part of the decade, as well as the spinners and other shiny rims that adorned flashy cars.
It is apparent in the size of the bud, the amount of smoke and the redness of the eyes. More is better. Lil Wayne knows this. The Game is offering advice about it. And Lil Twist is exposing an unsuspecting white kid named Justin Bieber to it, oh the horror. Ironically, it has more to do with success than getting high. It is the last feather in Bieber's cap to show he has made it.
So what does this have to do with urban education?
As does everything else, this sentiment of weed as success has made it into the classroom.
Teenage boys and girls talk about it constantly. They speak of the big buds and blunts with the passion that some use to talk about food, sex, wine or literature. Well, maybe not literature. But their conversations about it are numerous and extensive. If they did as much as they said, they would be spending all their time on the floor passed out.
It is the great equalizer. In a poverty stricken environment where wealth is fleeting, weed has emerged as the currency, although not to be exchanged, but rather adorned. If they could wear it they would, in stead they have to discuss it, and show, on occasion, that they have partaken in it. But it is the mention of it, the masses of it, that give them their wealth. The few that do try and utilize it for it's intended use often end up in bad places, like nurse's wards. But these incidents are few and far between.
These are important revelations not because of their merit, but because a dialog needs to emerge. Adults need to recognize what is happening, rather than jumping to conclusions and applying punitive measures.
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