POT SMOKING TAKES HOLD AMONG YOUNGSTERS

Colin was 13 when he wrapped his lips for the first time around a
marijuana pipe - before his first kiss, before his first algebra
lesson, before the end of the seventh grade.

That first time was two years ago, when he sat in a corner on his
kitchen floor. The friends that circled him flashed psychedelic hand
waves in front of his face as he blew a stream of marijuana smoke from
his lips.

He isn't part of a gang.

He isn't escaping a flood of family problems.

He isn't from the wrong side of town.

He is among the 50 percent of high-school students in the United
States who admit to using marijuana before graduation, according to
the New Mexico Drug Policy Foundation.

And he is part of the same group at the heart of the debate over Gov.
Gary Johnson's suggestion to decriminalize marijuana.

"It's fun. I'm not addicted. It's not like my body needs it, but I
like doing it," said Colin, 15, who now packs a marijuana pipe next to
his biology book in his school backpack. He gets high at least once a
day.

According to Colin and most Santa Fe area high school students,
finding marijuana to smoke every day isn't hard.

Ninety percent of high-school students said it was easy or very easy
for them to buy drugs, said Steven Bunch, president of the New Mexico
Drug Policy Foundation.

"It is easier for children to obtain illegal substances than it is for
them to obtain beer," Bunch said. "It is easier for young people to
obtain illegal substances than it is for adults."

Most Santa Fe teens agree.

"You can get marijuana in the bathrooms, in the classroom, anywhere,"
said Jessica, a 16-year-old junior at Santa Fe High School who first
tried the drug in seventh grade.

It is the "anywhere" that scares most decriminalization
advocates.

"The regulation of marijuana takes away the incentive for a black
market so you don't have a lot of adults pushing drugs on kids," said
Bruce Bush, a member of the Delta Coalition that supports legalizing
marijuana.

"Drug prohibition is destroying our children," Bunch said. "These
drugs are outside of the law and we need to figure out a way how to
bring them under the law."

Even though most Santa Fe kids agree that marijuana use is
commonplace, they don't agree on the potential ramifications of
legalization.

"It'll stop murders and killing over drugs," said Jacob Felix, a
16-year-old junior at Capital High School.

Anthony Mendiola, a 15-year-old freshman at St. Michael's, said he
worries about more teens using the drug if it becomes legal.

"The idea is kinda dumb," Mendiola said. "People are going to abuse
it."

Other youngsters see the legalization process as stripping away the
glamour and glory of breaking the law.

"If it was legal, people wouldn't do it as much," said Jeremy, a
15-year-old freshman at Santa Fe High School who uses the drug on a
regular basis. "Some people do it because it's cool, but if it's
legal, it wouldn't be cool anymore."

Some kids said the legal label that marijuana use carries is beside
the point. The point, to them, involves upbringing and a personal decision.

"If it were legal, I'm not going to do it anyway, so why should I
care?" said 12-year-old De Vargas Junior High student Quaila Vigil.

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