{"id":96418,"date":"2025-09-30T08:25:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96418"},"modified":"2025-09-30T08:25:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:25:50","slug":"smoking-at-15-how-i-compounded-my-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96418","title":{"rendered":"Smoking at 15: How I compounded my problems"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 9 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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(My Absent Father and DNA Saga)<\/p>\n

At 15, I made a decision that worsened the pain of growing up without a father. I smoked weed for the first time.<\/p>\n

I left Akatsi in 2000 as a calm \u201cGranny\u2019s boy\u201d who had never seen weed before. Two years later, I returned as a full-blown \u201cghetto boy.\u201d My grandmother was devastated. She wished she hadn\u2019t let me move to Takoradi for SHS. But the damage was already done.<\/p>\n

Lost at 15<\/p>\n

The first 14 years of my life were spent under my grandmother\u2019s care. Then, suddenly, I was in Takoradi, far from home, far from her. My uncle, who was supposed to look after me, got transferred to Accra. I didn\u2019t even know my father was back in Ghana. With no phones at the time and Akatsi three regions away, I was left completely on my own.<\/p>\n

During my first SHS midterm, I had nowhere to go. While other students travelled home, I wandered through Takoradi, discovering nightspots like Cobbypop, Brotherhood, and Harbour View Casino. Those places became my classroom.<\/p>\n

My First Puff<\/p>\n

One night, outside Harbour View Casino, I met a man called Paa Kwesi. He looked like a junkie but spoke fluent English with a diaspora accent. He asked if I had weed. I didn\u2019t, but I promised to get some.<\/p>\n

The next day, I bought two wraps from Cobbypop. I never saw him again, but now the weed was in my pocket. After fumbling with it in the bush behind campus, I eventually got someone to roll it properly. And that night, at just 15, I got high for the first time.<\/p>\n

That choice gave my enemies, including my father, a weapon against me. I was no longer just the abandoned child. I was now the \u201cspoilt wee smoker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Reality of Teen Smoking<\/p>\n

Smoking weed as a teenager isn\u2019t just about getting high. It comes with stigma, stereotyping, and victimisation. People stop trusting you. Parents warn their kids to avoid you. You get labeled as a \u201cproblem child\u201d or \u201ccriminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weed also exposes you to harder drugs because the ghettos where it\u2019s sold are usually hubs for pills, crack, cocaine, and heroin. I lost more than 10 promising friends, bright, intelligent boys who ended up as junkies or criminals. I was lucky not to join them.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know some people who smoke and still make money, but most are scammers or dealers. And none of them would ever want their own children to walk that path.<\/p>\n

Some Hard Numbers<\/p>\n

95% of those who start before age 14 often end up a mess.<\/p>\n

80% of those who start between 15 and 18 years (SHS age) may face the same fate.<\/p>\n

Even starting at university isn\u2019t safe, half of them still get trapped.<\/p>\n

Weed may be a powerful economic crop for Africa if legalised and industrialised. But for teenagers, smoking it is a dangerous gamble that closes doors and destroys futures.<\/p>\n

My Reflection<\/p>\n

If I hadn\u2019t started smoking at 15, I believe I could have rebuilt my life after SHS, even without my father\u2019s acceptance. I could have become someone he\u2019d be proud to call a son. But I became a \u201cfire starter\u201d instead.<\/p>\n

I still believe ganja should be legalised, decriminalised, and used as an export product. But for teenagers, it is poison.<\/p>\n

A Word to Parents<\/p>\n

Please pay attention to your children in SHS. In Ghana, unlike in the West, we send our kids away for high school at 14 to 18 years. These are the years they need their parents most.<\/p>\n

My story isn\u2019t about condemning weed. It\u2019s about telling the truth. Teenagers should not smoke. I lived it. I know.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SmokingOne night, outside Harbour View Casino, I met a man called Paa Kwesi. He looked like a junkie but spoke fluent English with a diaspora accent. He asked if I had weed. I didn\u2019t, but I promised to get some.<\/p>\n

The next day, I bought two wraps from Cobbypop. I never saw him again, but now the weed was in my pocket. After fumbling with it in the bush behind campus, I eventually got someone to roll it properly. And that night, at just 15, I got high for the first time.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2171,1370,3662,1883,10,9,9578,9579],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hp-lifestyle-1","category-lifestyle","category-marijuana","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-selorm-ameza","category-smoking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}