Marijuana and Academic Performance

I'm moving on to college next fall and I have been posed with some questions. To smoke or not to smoke? If I do toke up, will it affect my performance in college? Should I smoke next summer, before college begins? In the past, I had a period in which I smoked weekly during the school year and I saw a decline in grades (although there were other factors involved, not related to pot). I haven't smoked for 3 months now and I'm getting straight A's in school (again, there were other factors involved). How would/do you deal with your desire to smoke while at the same time maintain good performance in academics?

 

I always got much better grades when I was stoned, but it is different for everyone. None of us can tell you what is best for you. You just have to find out for yourself how it will affect your academics, then go from there.

 

Thats exactly what the stoner gods would say.

 

I know. I am a stoner-prophet. I act as the voice of the stoner gods. I have sacrificed much to perform my duty in full.

 

I'm curious, how did smoking pot lead to better grades for you?

 

Well, I have ADHD, and weed has been proven to effectively relieve the symptoms of ADD/ADHD in some people. Before I started smoking weed I was failing EVERY class I was taking in high school; straight F's. I even failed PE and probably would have even failed lunch, if it was possible. When I started going to class stoned, I got straight A's and B's. My teacher even said I did better when I was stoned, as it was quite obvious I was "altered" everyday in class. My therapist even said it worked better for me than ritalin or adderall did. I guess it just helped me focus my energy. I definitely noticed heightened concentration when I was stoned. Also, I am sure it had a lot to do with stress-relief. It just took the pressure off. I even took my GED tests stoned and scored in the top 5% of Georgia graduates.

I ended up getting kicked out of school and banned from every school in the county for coming to class high, though.

 

Well being in college I can say that smoking could effect your grades depending how you smoke. When I was in high school, I smoked everyday after school and never had a problem with my grades. But in college you are going to be doing alot of studying and work outside the classrooom, and if your cant manage your time between studying and other activities your grades will reflect that. Smoking the summer before shouldn't be a problem, I did and had no negative effects, just be prepared to do all the school work when school starts. When I got to college I stopped smoking heavily and now only smoke occasionally. For me smoking is now a weekend or whenever I have free time thing. I would say you dont have to quit smoking but most likely have to do it in moderation, but really depends on how you can balance the time you need for school work and the time you want to spend smoking.

 

Visineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

I'm kind of in the same position, but I haven't thought about that. When I entered high school I did not smoke and my grades were shit. I began smoking in freshman year. My grades had a tiny improvement by the end of the year. So I go on to my sophmore year. My grades were still shit but they were improving. By this time, I was smoking once every two weeks, I would smoke alot each session. My grades were still shit, but then again, they were improving. I smoked just about every other day during the summer before junior year, I would smoke alot throughout each day that I did smoke. So then I was in my junior year and my grades were just slightly above average. I wasn't smoking as much by this time, once every week maybe. In the summer before my senior year, I had a 20 sack that lasted me the whole summer( I did not smoke too often and I used a vaporizer) Now I'm in my senior year at highschool. I have very good grades. On my progress report my Marketing teacher said I was one of the top in the class. That's how my grades have improved throughout my high school career. I've noticed that I am more fortgetful since I entered high school, so I'm going to stop smoking for a little bit. Despite forgetfulness, my grades are still pretty high.


As for college, I would chill out with the ganja in college. If you plan to smoke, make sure you study first or do the homework or whatever before you light up. All you need to remember is school is first. By the way, what are you going for? I'm going for Computer Science.

EDIT:
That's another thing. I agree with TopNotch I have ADD and I thought smoking would fuck my grades up even more, but nope, it did the exact opposite.

 

Nah. The problem was that I would smoke two FATASS joint, probably 4-5g between the two of them, before class everyday.....by myself. I would smoke the joints in a utility closet, probably 5ft x 5ft, on the carport of the abandoned house across the street from school. I knew it made me smell like a great big ball of resin, but it was the only place I could smoke. The smell......that was my downfall. When I got caught, I was in one of those portable trailer classrooms on one end, and the substitute teacher was about 20-25 feet away from me on the other end of class, but he still smelled me. He asked if I had been smoking anything.......I replied with "yup, I have, as a matter of fact", or something to that effect.

He then led me to the principal's office. On the way to the office I dumped my weed in a trashcan as I walked behind the teacher. Unfortunately, I was so stoned that I forgot that I also had a butterfly knife in my pocket, which the cop found when he searched me. I was 18 years old at the time, and they were gonna arrest me, but the principal said that I was a really nice kid and never caused any real trouble, so the cop let me go.

I ended up getting kicked out of another school about 2 months later. Again, for smoking weed. The next year, I was kicked out of the Army for smoking weed.

Is anything else, aside from weed, actually worth all of this trouble? I think not

 

And they say weed has no worthy benefits. pfft bastards.

 

It really depends what you're studying and what kind of work ethic you have entering into college. Some areas of study practically demand a second line of reasoning, but only assuming that an intimate knowledge of the underlying principles of said subject are understood (this doesn't translate well to most undergraduate work). Nevertheless, a solid work ethic coupled with a legitimate interest in the material generally affords even habitual marijuana smokers the ability to get by just fine.

 

topnotch ya shoulda sued the school
i know a freind in canada had made the school let him toke up, right in class cause he claimed religios reasons
ya had a legitimate & proven (by your grades) medicinal reason
and even if theres no medicinal laws where your from individual lawsuites ike that i think would really help the whole legalization issue

 

basically you cant smoke till after all the work is done for the day (at least for me thats how it is, but I get super blazed when I do smoke at the end of the day)

 

I could have.......if I had any money at all. My family has been pretty impoverished since I can remember, so I could never afford anything like that anyway.

haha your friend smoked in class? That's pretty top notch.

 

yup sure did

wish i coulda gotten away with that..lol

 

When I think about it, I am glad it happened. If I had never gotten kicked out of school, I never would have gone to Job Corps and met my fiance. Everything happens for a reason, it seems.

 

has it effected your grades that you currently have? honestly I think if you just blaze up sometimes you will be good, if u start gettin into other shit then you might have a hard time, but generally I think smokin a lil herb here n there wont hurt you academicly.

 

i feel like it varies person to person. some people retain information very well when they're high, some don't. some people can pay attention, some just zone out.

and i think it also somewhat depends on what you're smoking. some bud helps me articulate and convey my thoughts better, and allows me to draw parallells between things. some bud just makes me want to listen to music and chill.

math sucks when you're high though. i think most people agree on that. i like english and history classes when im blazed though.

 

haha i actually like math when im high. normally in school math is the only subject i actually understand.... my report card reads like this A for math A for gym A for band C, D, C+, D-, B- for all my other classes. so sometimes ill be doing my math homework stoned and be like "im doing math homework and im having so much fun!!!"