Are you a bit slow on motivation? Are your eyes bloodshot? Do people find you animated and easily amused? If you find yourself eating a whole pepperoni pizza, devouring a bag of potato chips and chewing on a batch of chocolate chip cookies right before you pass out in front of the television set for two and a half hours, chances are, you’re a pothead.

Other than a few motivational issues and junk food binges, potheads are pretty much laid back, down-to-earth people — or at least that’s what I thought.The government issued a statement on May 3, saying that young people who smoke marijuana at an early age are more likely to develop mental health disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia. However, it is arguable whether marijuana is the cause of these disorders, or if young people who started smoking marijuana early were simply predisposed to have mental disorders anyway.

One study, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, found adult marijuana smokers who first began using the drug before age 12 were twice as likely to have suffered a serious mental illness in the past year as those who began smoking after 18.

“I first smoked weed when I was 13, and I’m not depressed or schizophrenic,” said Jason Andrew, an English major.

Senior Jessica Rojo said she believes marijuana is an experimental gateway drug, but she doubts that it causes serious mental illness.

“All my friends who used marijuana are fine,” Rojo said.

Maybe it’s far-fetched, but my guess is that an 11-year-old kid sitting on his bed, choking on Daddy’s bong instead of popping wheelies in the driveway or bugging his older sister and her friends, is more likely to suffer depression at an early age. That kid’s parents probably don’t invest enough time into raising him, so besides the fact that he smokes weed, he was probably already on the fast track to a mental breakdown.

Is a teenager who experiments with, say, alcohol likely to experience the same level of depression? My guess is yes. So what’s the point of a new study? It’s obvious that kids who turn to pot, alcohol or any other substance, for that matter, either have too much time on their hands, or they’re trying to numb some sort of inner pain. In either situation, the root of the problem is social. Instead of blaming marijuana for our children’s mental health problems, the government should focus its limited attention on the breakdown of American families — which, in matters of child rearing, directly correlates to time restrictions, financial constraints, neglect, mixed messages, confusion and depression. Am I wrong?”I’m not with that theory,” senior Kelly Pederson said. “I think the study is B.S.!

How do they know it’s not aspirin or Tylenol that causes these problems? So many people use marijuana, and there’s too many variables involved. Mental illness exists, but people are often too quick to put labels on things they cannot define. I mean, do bras cause breast cancer? Maybe that’s related, too.”

I’m no professional, but just like Rojo, I can look around at the people I know who have experimented with marijuana early in life, many of which attend college here on campus, who still have their nuts and bolts, so to speak.

Having a strong family and social background gives people a higher sense of self-worth, even those who are recreational users of drugs and alcohol. Those who abuse drugs and alcohol do so because they are unhappy with their present reality, and that’s the truth! So when we speak of children who abuse drugs and alcohol, we’re talking about children who aren’t receiving sufficient attention or proper care in their homes. The government would much rather blame a substance like marijuana instead of putting American family values under the microscope, because to do so would place blame on ourselves, and nobody wants to be at-fault for anything.

I’m not trying to advocate marijuana addiction; however, I can’t help but think studies such as this are purposely geared toward motivating law enforcement to crack down on marijuana sales, rather than inspiring parents to take meaningful action that will help prevent the onset of mental disorders in their children.

Perhaps this study is useful, but I implore you to look a little deeper and read between the lines.

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Carrie Espiritu can be reached at [email protected]