Cannabis isn’t just the reserve of hippies and women in, er, capes. Photo: mardi_grass_2010/Flickr
You are in an out-of-the-way place, aged between 13 and 16, huddled in a tight circle with your excited mates. Out of a jacket pocket comes a measly-looking ten-bag, acquired from some local shifty character or an amused older brother. A joint is inexpertly rolled; it is bulgy and misshapen, drooping whimsically at the end.
You take a drag after waiting in hushed anticipation. It has little noticeable effect, aside from a slight feeling of dizziness. You begin to wonder whether the few quid you put towards this adventure was a regrettable waste of pocket money.
Many people will no doubt recognise this tale of youthful dabbling. Indeed, smoking cannabis is increasingly seen as normal teenage behaviour, with a Guardian poll finding that over 81 per cent of people consider it a rite of passage.
Such findings are at least superficially eyebrow-raising. Smoking cannabis remains a criminal offence, and its effects on mental health can be serious. Is it really something that should be seen as a rite of passage?
There is nothing inevitable about kids dabbling with drugs. Many will choose not to get involved; others will simply not be able to, either because of strict parents or lack of availability.
Contrary to Daily Mail-fuelled hysteria, modern society has not descended into an orgiastic drugs binge. In every age group, illegal drug-taking remains the exception not the rule.
Nonetheless, smoking cannabis is something many teenagers will do. And because it is seen as normal, and indeed cool, the social pressures on some kids who may otherwise wish to stay away from drugs can be considerable.
This is undoubtedly unfortunate, and should not go unchallenged, but peer pressure is generally a social fact whatever your age. Many students would no doubt prefer not to be stuck in a semi-permanent hangover, but nights out are hard to avoid if you wish to remain sociable.
Even if pressured into doing so, sharing the odd spliff is unlikely to do much harm. Cannabis taken in moderation is generally conducive to little more than laughter and drowsiness. You may feel slightly on edge after a toke too many, but that soon goes.
The main immediate damage will probably be to your wallet, as buying is expensive, as can be a serious case of the munchies.
Persistently heavy use has been linked to mental health problems, particularly psychosis. But it is surely common sense to avoid anything in excess, and evidence suggests cannabis is much less likely to foster dependency than drugs such as heroin or nicotine, which produce strong physical withdrawal symptoms that compel further and repeated use.
Moreover, the negative effects of cannabis are trifling compared to those of alcohol, which remains an infinitely more damaging drug regardless of its legality.
Drink brings violence, social disturbance and fatalities. Getting high may have long-term health implications, but it generally produces feelings that are the inverse of those that provoke people to fight or wreck the streets. And recorded deaths that have directly resulted from weed are simply not heard of.
So the argument that cannabis is always harmful is not necessarily convincing.
Most of those huddled in parks will give it a few tries and then move on. Because weed soon gets dreary. Like many other things that teenagers naively idealise – like drinking, going to university, adulthood in general - it is stratospherically overhyped and overrated. They will soon wonder what all the fuss is about.
Even if smoking cannabis is becoming more prevalent, the kids, it seems, will be alright.