After four rounds, they all had bloodshot eyes.

The Psychology of Smoking

"Eight of us occupied a table at one corner of the premises. There was a lady in our company.

"I hadn't met my table mates before, but we got along fine conversing on irrelevant subjects, commenting on the music and the dresses worn by the beautiful women in attendance.

"We were drinking and smoking cigarettes, but I observed that my friends didn't appear satisfied. Something was missing. Suddenly one of them whom I would rather call Samuel Iye got up, went to a nearby house and returned after a few minutes.

"He handed a small envelope to the man sitting next to him. This man started wrapping something in the form of a cigarette. [Now I know why they call it wrap.] I was completely ignored.

"After wrapping the thing, he lit it, took a long draw, tightened his teeth, puffed his jaws, swallowed the smoke and passed the cigarette to the man next to him. He, too, did the same thing and passed it over to the girl, who took her turn. It dawned on me that they were not smoking the usual cigarette but Indian hemp. The odour was hideous, but I dared not show concern.

"It next came to my turn and I politely refused since I had a cigarette in my mouth.

"'Come on, have a go, boy!' One of the chaps loudly pressed me.

"I always try novelties, at least once, so I took a 'pull' and handed it over to the next fellow. Two minutes later, I started coughing violently. Tears ran down my eyes; I longed for water to drink, and felt choked. After five minutes of persistent coughing, I cooled down a little bit, opened my eyes and saw my newly-made friends laughing at me.

" 'How you feeling, boy ?'

" 'Fine,' I spluttered between coughs.

"That was Indian hemp, and the 'smoke' my first experience. I came to myself only after taking a lot of cold water, and washing my face; even then, I continued to cough at intervals.

"I noticed thereafter that conversation on our table became more lively and my friends more jovial. The lady forgot convention and became more familiar with everyone, using obscene words. They all had bloodshot eyes after having four rounds each of the stuff."

(End of story)

I know you must have been thinking that was my story. Like what the hell? How could you even think such of me?

Anyways that wasn't my story. It was the story of how a young boy was introduced to an higher level of smoking.

He upgraded from smoking cigarettes to smoking Indian hemp (or weed or cannabis) that day.

We need to importantly understand that wrong association is what led many into addictive acts of smoking weed today.

Bad friendships and peer pressure is what has led many to their graves. They were told how to begin but they weren't told how to stop so addiction got the better of them.

This is a major psychology of smoking that everyone must learn and understand. Ninety-nine percent of smokers in all over the world used to have mentors or friends in the smoking game before they became used to it.

So you should watch your association because smoking kills faster than alcohol does.

Make conscientious efforts to choose your friends wisely.

Until tomorrow,

Remember to stay away from smokers,

Abayomi Johnson.