Youth and cannabis: Voices from the 4-20 celebration

Brooke Deschamps, 22
Why she smokes pot: “I have really bad anxiety. It totally calms me down.”
What she think of the risks: “I’m sure there are more benefits than harms. I’d rather not take pills.
I’ve been smoking it since I was 16. It could (damage brain cells), but not mine. Or if it has, I haven’t felt it.”
Brooke, 16, a high school student who travelled from a small town outside Ottawa to celebrate 4-20 on Parliament Hill, first tried pot at