420 Stories: The First Time I Smoked Weed

There are so many little unspoken rites of passage that we go through on our way to adulting. There’s the first time you smoked a cigarette, the first time you had a drink, the first time you went to a club, the first time you had sex and the first time you smoked weed.

A 2017 Marist College Institute poll found that 52% of Americans 18 years or older have tried weed and 44% of those individuals still use it. Legend has it that 4:20 was started in California by some weed smoking buddies that decided to meet in front of the school’s statue of Louis Pasteur at 4:20 p.m. and eventually 4:20 became the code for “let’s blaze!” When the friends began hanging out backstage at Grateful Dead concerts and smoking with the roadies and crew the term stuck. And in the 1980’s, Grateful Dead’s posters solidified utilized the term thus solidifying 4:20 as a part of stoner culture forever. The rest as they say, is history.

As tribute to Mary Jane and her special day, here are some high-larious memories of the first time some of our readers** got high.

** some names have been changed and stories have been edited for clarity.

Rosa, 31

The first time I tired MJ I was 18 at my boyfriends college apartment. His brother got us some weed rice krispies and I was so nervous to try them. I was like “omg what if I die?!” and then of course I tried it anyways. I remember thinking “ok why is this so gross?” because whoever made the rice krispies obviously had no idea what they were doing. They literally just ground up weed and combined it with the mix. I was eating full on chunks of weed and it was getting stuck in my teeth. I don’t even think I actually got very high, I just felt a little foggy and got a tummy ache from ingesting so many stems and sticks.

Estefania, 23

I was with my best friend and we were in the car smoking weed, probably listening to Jhene or something and I was taking a video, I dropped ash on myself and then screamed really loud. It was so funny. Then we called an Uber and we got in smelling like weed. I felt so bad because the driver was an older woman and there was a man already in the back seat. My perfume might as well have been OG, I knew I totally stanked like weed and I felt so guilty so I was laughing for no reason. My best friend then tweeted something about the moment and I saw it and began crying! Everyone in the car was looking at me like I was crazy.

Jenny, 25

My first time I was 15, one of my friends brought some over when my parents were already asleep and we went behind the shed in my backyard. My cousin and I came ready with water bottles, eye drops, perfume, and everything else we thought we needed so that we wouldn’t get caught. We smoked a whole gram and he wanted to buy more but we were already SUPER high and I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. My friend insisted on buying more weed because he said he wasn’t feeling anything, and by the time his guy dropped off some more I knew my dad would be getting up soon. I told my friend not to smoke because he would catch us for sure but he did it anyways right under the bathroom window. Just as I was lighting up the joint for him I saw the curtain fling open and I knew we were caught. My Dad came running outside yelling my name and made us all go in and sent me to my room— luckily he let my friends sleep downstairs. I thought I was going to die because I was so thirsty and I felt like I was having trouble breathing. My friend brought me a water bottle and when he gave it to me I leaned in for a kiss, and right as I did that his girlfriend called him and I was so shocked that he had a girlfriend that I started crying. Then my cousin came running upstairs, missed the last step and broke her hip. My family called 911 and when the paramedics got there I had to translate for my parents. I had a weekend full of lectures and hospital visits! I haven’t smoked since!

Julie, 54

My 420 story is straight out of 1976. I was in the 7th grade and someone from another time has dug a big hole out in the school field. it was huge! At one point there was a small sofa inside, which is so gross now that I think about it. At P.E. we would hide in the hole and wait for run to be over. A friend brought a joint and asked if I smoked, to which I replied “simon ese, all the time” — This was NOT the case. I was a cholita who had never smoked. Needless to say, after a couple tokes I was HIGH. I stayed in the field talking to a goat through a fence that separated the school from a house that was butted up against the field. I swear he understood me!

Naomi, 20

This wasn’t the first time I took edibles or smoked weed but it was the first time I got high. Since I never got high before, I thought I had some crazy resistance to marijuana. I ended up taking three edibles which were 3x the dosage I had ever taken. I was at the Hollywood Bowl listening to some 80’s artists and I was starting to get drowsy. Next thing I knew, I saw a man descend from the sky in a cage. He slowly landed on stage and was surrounded by people dressed as fish skating around him. Next thing I knew I was SO into the performance but eventually I got too sleepy and closed my eyes. I started tapping my knee to the beat of the music and realized that with every tap I’d see a little firework go off in my head. So I started tapping myself in different places to see them go off. Later my friend would tell me that there was no floating man or fish people, and that I looked like a weirdo just sitting there poking myself.

Veronica, 35

When I was 16 one of my good friends Patty took me out to our high school’s baseball field to smoke a joint. She surprised me with it since she knew I had never smoked before. She told me it wasn’t a big deal and that I had to try it. I told my parents I had dance practice after school because they expected me home right away otherwise. When we got to the dugout she took the first hit to show me how to smoke, then I took a hit and of course, started coughing like crazy. I remember my cheeks hurting from laughing so hard! And after a few hits she announced it was time for munchies and we walked to McDonalds where we ordered cheeseburgers and fries. This is probably what started my love for the #2 combo that sadly doesn’t exist anymore.