What if marijuana use had nothing to do with an individual psychological predisposition, as some still believe, far from some psychic problem, and was simply the result of a group, social learning? This is what Howard Becker, a sociologist and jazz musician, the first scholar who already in the 1950s spoke of the recreational use of marijuana when everyone referred to consumption as “abuse”. The sensations produced by this drug, reveals us, are not automatically or necessarily pleasant. The taste for experience is acquired in the interaction with others, and in that sense it is not different from the taste for oysters or whiskey: more experienced people guide and help to interpret the first effects, so that they do not generate concern or alarm in the rookie. The consumer is dizzy and thirsty, feels a tingling in the scalp, miscalculates the weather and distances. Is it about nice things? He doesn't know it at all. If you are going to continue smoking, you have to decide that they are. Otherwise, having a trip will become something you would rather avoid. Thus, Becker demonstrates that people develop a motivation for recreational marijuana use when they learn to smoke it in a way that produces real effects, but also when they can recognize them and enjoy the sensations they perceive. With this text, a classic that continues to surprise, Becker installed a new approach on the subject, against the back of stigmatizing views on deviant assumptions and a repressive paradigm. In his unbehaviored and scathing way, this true master of sociologists reconstructs a step-by-step guide to becoming a marijuana user and having a good trip.