Marijuana for mental health

Natural stimulants such as marijuana have been used by ancient Chinese, Greek, Indian, and Assyrian populations since as early as 2800 BC. These people primarily used marijuana for its therapeutic and psychiatric benefits, which is still seen in substance use today.

“I first started using weed last year from my ex. He sort of pressured me into it, and it helped a lot with my mental health, so then I started getting it from my brother, and I was looking around at other dealers and getting it,” said Carlmont student Mia Williams. 

Williams later started selling marijuana to her friends, who also predominantly use it for its therapeutic benefits. Her reach has expanded, but she keeps her customer circle small. 

“Usually the people I deal with are friends or friends of friends, it doesn’t branch out too much, so I can usually keep tabs on them a little bit,” Williams said. “I’m a very caring person, so if a person is coming to me a lot asking for weed or asking for alcohol, I usually ask what it’s for. If I’m worried about them, I’ll check in with their friends and then have their friends check in with them.”

With such a tight base, Williams has enough of a cover that her peers don’t often discover her marijuana business until they become close friends. Her front also prevents fighting with other student dealers, as most of them aren’t aware either. Additionally, Williams doesn’t sell marijuana for commercial purposes. Her motivation isn’t money.

“The people that have the most customers are the ones that have their customers extremely addicted,” Williams said. “Usually, addictions are because of mental health, and so it all starts from mental health, and then it increases. It really depends on the person.”

With marijuana legal in California, there are dozens of places in the Bay Area that sell it in a variety of forms. Undoubtedly, there will be stores that are lax in their identification policies. According to California Health and Safety Code Section 11361 HSC, selling marijuana to a minor is a felony and results in extended prison time. However, several businesses still look the other way.

“I buy from a smoke shop in [retracted] that doesn’t card at all. So as long as you look a little bit old, you get it easily, and they never card anyone unless you’re in a big group of people. And so I usually dress up a little bit older, and then it’s easy,” Williams said.

The title “drug dealer” often invokes an image of someone without a job, hoping to get customers addicted so they come back for more. However, there are multiple facets to dealing marijuana, and the situation is never a one-size-fits-all.

“I know a lot of people are scared to ask people they don’t know, and since I’m pretty innocent, in the sense of like I’m a 4.0 GPA student, an innocent little girl, people are more comfortable coming up to me,” Williams said. “The people that come up to me usually use it for their mental health. I’m more of a mental health dealer than a typical, ‘I just wanna be high all the time’ dealer.”