“Go on, have some weed.”
“No, thank you”
“Oh, come on, just a puff!”
“I really don’t want any, thank you.”
“Look we’re all having some…”
How would any parents out there feel about their teenage child being pressurised to smoke cannabis against their will?
How would they feel about the person or people applying that pressure?
Last year, I took a lonely stand against the US Come Over October’ campaign that sought to promote the ‘convivial’ aspects of wine drinking. Vinous conviviality – drinking wine with other people – was, we were told, greatly preferable to the loneliness of sitting alone at home and, presumably, not drinking it.
At the time, I made the point that wine was far from the only convivial beverage or substance. Tea, coffee, beer, cocktails, cake and weed are often enjoyed by groups of people. In all these cases, peer ‘persuasion’ may also be applied on individuals to consume against their wishes.
I have just been told of a woman in her fifties who was on a walking weekend with a group of her girlfriends. Having recently recovered from breast cancer, she had decided not to drink any alcohol. On more than two occasions the others did their best to make her join them in having some Prosecco. Glasses were poured for her and “Oh, go on!” noises of encouragement repeatedly voiced.
Many readers may brush this off as harmless banter between friends, but it affected the woman sufficiently for her to be talking about it some time later.
I'm afraid I see no difference between the behaviour of these 50-something year-old women and the pressure that might be put on their children to smoke weed or pop a wide range of substances ranging from MDMA to ketamine.
“Oh, but Prosecco is nothing like any of those”, I can hear some people snorting. Well, it may be a stretch to leap from wine to the horse tranquiliser Elon Musk apparently uses every other week. But, in the growing number of jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalised, there are pretty direct parallels between encouraging one’s friends to indulge in it, and pushing them to have a beer, a gin-and-tonic or a glass of Pinot Grigio.
At its ideal, conviviality is a lovely word and concept when everyone has individually and freely chosen to participate. But anyone who ignores or dismisses the possible effects of what one might call ‘involuntary conviviality’ when the product happens to be made from grapes, but would feel uncomfortable if it were cannabis, needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror.
