The Marihuana Habit: Some Observations of a Small Group of Users*

Abstract

A sampling of the literature on marihuana has been presented, and a description has been given of some of the attributes of a small group of marihuana smokers in the community. This group is probably not well representative, however, of a largely unknown parent population. While not entirely homogeneous, and while probably harbouring one or two marginally functioning people, this group may be described as composed of still young men and women of quite good intelligence and education, expressing preference for aesthetic, experiential values. For the most part single and without dependants, they support themselves in relatively conventional occupations but lean, less in fact and more in aspiration, towards what one might call artistic and expressive occupations. Current religious attachments are disowned and, instead, they are in search of some philosophy of life, adopting what one might call humanistic principles. They tend to see themselves, as, after all, most social groups do, as enlightened; and they feel united in their rejection or questioning of what they perceive as the contemporary social establishment. Some of them have misgivings about themselves, and are not sure of where they are going. However, the group probably assuages some of these anxieties, and possibly offers quite useful support to some of its less resourceful members. Perhaps, one of the most striking and seemingly paradoxical aspects of the situation is that, despite protestations of extraversion, concern with ‘the real’, and group belongingness, the apparent common denomination of the association lies in the seeking of what are entirely introversive or subjective experiences of an ‘unreal’, transcendental sort, and subsisting mainly in highly individualized phenomena. This consideration at least raises the question of whether the stronger gratification may not lie in membership of the group, rather than simply in indulging the marihuana habit for its own sake. The narcissistic aspects of the group process appear to constitute one important variable underlying the apparent difficulty and delay which these young people meet in establishing an eventual identification of sorts (probably in most cases) with a wider and more representative community.