A spokesman for a drug awareness group, speaking to the radio station Bylgjan, offered anecdotal evidence and his own advice on the warning signs for parents that their children might be smoking marijuana.

Magnús Stefánsson, the educational officer for the drug awareness group Marita, offered advice to parents who might be concerned that their child is smoking weed.

Magnús warned that marijuana use has been insidious and under-reported. However, he said he had heard examples of children as young as 14 years old whose marijuana use had gotten so out of hand that they had quit school altogether, and slept on the streets armed with knives to protect themselves against violence.

Magnús said that there were signs a parent should watch out for. For example, reggae music, he said, was often a gateway into the world of pot and the Rastafarian faith. In addition, parents should be wary if their child is normally moody and rebellious, but then suddenly starts helping out around the house. “This completely fools the parents,” he said in part.

Þórarinn Tyrfingsson, the head doctor at the rehab centre Vogur, speaking to DV, added, “I remember in the old days, all the hash-heads were very fond of certain albums that today respectable people listen to without necessarily associating them with drug use,” specifically naming The Wall by Pink Floyd.

Magnús also warned parents to watch out for their kids wearing clothing that bears the marijuana leaf and also, inexplicably, if their child switches from disposable lighters to Zippos, perhaps unaware that trying to smoke weed through a pipe with a Zippo is like inhaling lighter fluid and no self-respecting pothead would ever do such a thing.