any good therapists out there for 14 y/o son with ADHD and recently caught smoking weed

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to throw the kitchen sink at him with support so I'm open to ideas!

[Anonymous]

Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

Chesapeake Center in North Bethesda. I'd also get him in to see a psychiatrist if he's not seeing one already.

[Anonymous]

Please read all the threads related to catching your teen smoking weed here and BREATH.... you're not alone.

I read somewhere how it's impossible to walk on the streets of in DC (or New York City) without getting a whiff of weed everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please read all the threads related to catching your teen smoking weed here and BREATH.... you're not alone.

I read somewhere how it's impossible to walk on the streets of in DC (or New York City) without getting a whiff of weed everywhere.

Thank you so much for this support. I'm sure we've all been here before but I'm scared to death of addiction (my brother's addiction wreaked havoc on my family when I was younger). My emotions are quite heavy these days and I can't help but beat myself up searching for answers on what we could have done differently. That said, I'm almost through that guilt stage and now just looking to make changes to prevent further problems.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any idea as to why he's turning to marijuana in the first place? It's important to do the root-cause analysis as you seek treatment for him.

[Anonymous]

Is he medicated for the adhd?
Drug addiction is most always self medicating for an underlying issue.
Rather than do therapy for the adhd (which has very little efficacy), do a more thorough evaluation. Is there also anxiety? Bipolar? Ocd? Autism? Etc.
Adhd has many co occurring issues but unless you look for them, high functioning kids usually don't receive a diagnosis for them until much later on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please read all the threads related to catching your teen smoking weed here and BREATH.... you're not alone.

I read somewhere how it's impossible to walk on the streets of in DC (or New York City) without getting a whiff of weed everywhere.

Thank you so much for this support. I'm sure we've all been here before but I'm scared to death of addiction (my brother's addiction wreaked havoc on my family when I was younger). My emotions are quite heavy these days and I can't help but beat myself up searching for answers on what we could have done differently. That said, I'm almost through that guilt stage and now just looking to make changes to prevent further problems.

OP, keeping calm to keep the lines of communication open with your kids is KEY here. That means not overreacting, educating yourself and making sure your kids are aware of the real risks of all drugs and esp alcohol.

I will catch a bunch of flack here but just want you and others to know that pot smoking is not necessarily a direct path to addiction and we've found it can be used responsibly by those with ADHD. I also freaked when our kids started experimenting with pot/alcohol around age 14. My family is full of alcoholics/addicts, most of whom have ADHD combined with high intelligence, and we've found through raising our kids and their cousins that pot is overall much less dangerous than the levels of drinking in HS and especially college these days. Our ADHD son smoked pot at the same age as yours and we had many frank discussions/education sessions about it/alcohol/other drugs over and over in HS in a way that did keep lines of communication open as much as you can with HS age kids. While he did smoke quite a bit through high school and we mostly knew about it because we had a very open relationship and had drilled addiction info into all the kids and cousins and emphasized the slippery slope, how if you're not managing feelings/learning how to cope without substances, and no one is born saying "gee, I want to be an addict when I grow up" discussions. We actually said pot is likely the least problematic of what you'll be offered by others in HS/college and beyond because that's our family's experience, and we're not unrealistic in thinking our kids won't be tempted, esp those impulsive ADHD ones. We also set guidelines/rules in place - tricky because they can be hard to enforce.

Through a series of medical events in one of our kids and in DH, we actually learned how marijuana/THC tinctures/CBD could help with chronic illness symptoms, focus for ADHD/brain issues like fog, chronic fatigue, tremors and pain relief. It is a miracle for some and less addictive, if managed, than most other drugs. There's evidence in states with med mj that all pharma drug use, esp for pain, has decreased. The high content THC is definitely an issue though and has led some to addiction but not everyone by any far stretch. Psychosis can happen but is pretty rare. However, certain strains of medical marijuana do actually help those with ADHD and with less side effects than prescription ADHD meds which so many with ADHD detest taking. DS is a very successful college student, still smokes, but manages it, takes breaks and it hasn't made him a couch potato at all or led to any addictions at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please read all the threads related to catching your teen smoking weed here and BREATH.... you're not alone.

I read somewhere how it's impossible to walk on the streets of in DC (or New York City) without getting a whiff of weed everywhere.

Thank you so much for this support. I'm sure we've all been here before but I'm scared to death of addiction (my brother's addiction wreaked havoc on my family when I was younger). My emotions are quite heavy these days and I can't help but beat myself up searching for answers on what we could have done differently. That said, I'm almost through that guilt stage and now just looking to make changes to prevent further problems.

OP, keeping calm to keep the lines of communication open with your kids is KEY here. That means not overreacting, educating yourself and making sure your kids are aware of the real risks of all drugs and esp alcohol.

I will catch a bunch of flack here but just want you and others to know that pot smoking is not necessarily a direct path to addiction and we've found it can be used responsibly by those with ADHD. I also freaked when our kids started experimenting with pot/alcohol around age 14. My family is full of alcoholics/addicts, most of whom have ADHD combined with high intelligence, and we've found through raising our kids and their cousins that pot is overall much less dangerous than the levels of drinking in HS and especially college these days. Our ADHD son smoked pot at the same age as yours and we had many frank discussions/education sessions about it/alcohol/other drugs over and over in HS in a way that did keep lines of communication open as much as you can with HS age kids. While he did smoke quite a bit through high school and we mostly knew about it because we had a very open relationship and had drilled addiction info into all the kids and cousins and emphasized the slippery slope, how if you're not managing feelings/learning how to cope without substances, and no one is born saying "gee, I want to be an addict when I grow up" discussions. We actually said pot is likely the least problematic of what you'll be offered by others in HS/college and beyond because that's our family's experience, and we're not unrealistic in thinking our kids won't be tempted, esp those impulsive ADHD ones. We also set guidelines/rules in place - tricky because they can be hard to enforce.

Through a series of medical events in one of our kids and in DH, we actually learned how marijuana/THC tinctures/CBD could help with chronic illness symptoms, focus for ADHD/brain issues like fog, chronic fatigue, tremors and pain relief. It is a miracle for some and less addictive, if managed, than most other drugs. There's evidence in states with med mj that all pharma drug use, esp for pain, has decreased. The high content THC is definitely an issue though and has led some to addiction but not everyone by any far stretch. Psychosis can happen but is pretty rare. However, certain strains of medical marijuana do actually help those with ADHD and with less side effects than prescription ADHD meds which so many with ADHD detest taking. DS is a very successful college student, still smokes, but manages it, takes breaks and it hasn't made him a couch potato at all or led to any addictions at this point.

I'm not going to question whether marijuana has been helpful for your son's ADHD or anxiety but I would be very careful to claim it's helpful for those conditions as there are just as many if not more testimonies about how marijuana EXACERBATES those conditions.

I'd also point out that there are harmful affects to the lungs of SMOKING anything. SOURCE CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/health-effects/lung-health.html#:~:text=Smoke%20from%20marijuana%20has%20many,causing%20chemicals)%20as%20tobacco%20smoke.&text=Smoking%20marijuana%20can%20also%20lead,improve%20when%20marijuana%20smokers%20quit.

Those are definitely not risks you should lightly expose a teen to IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please read all the threads related to catching your teen smoking weed here and BREATH.... you're not alone.

I read somewhere how it's impossible to walk on the streets of in DC (or New York City) without getting a whiff of weed everywhere.

Thank you so much for this support. I'm sure we've all been here before but I'm scared to death of addiction (my brother's addiction wreaked havoc on my family when I was younger). My emotions are quite heavy these days and I can't help but beat myself up searching for answers on what we could have done differently. That said, I'm almost through that guilt stage and now just looking to make changes to prevent further problems.

OP, keeping calm to keep the lines of communication open with your kids is KEY here. That means not overreacting, educating yourself and making sure your kids are aware of the real risks of all drugs and esp alcohol.

I will catch a bunch of flack here but just want you and others to know that pot smoking is not necessarily a direct path to addiction and we've found it can be used responsibly by those with ADHD. I also freaked when our kids started experimenting with pot/alcohol around age 14. My family is full of alcoholics/addicts, most of whom have ADHD combined with high intelligence, and we've found through raising our kids and their cousins that pot is overall much less dangerous than the levels of drinking in HS and especially college these days. Our ADHD son smoked pot at the same age as yours and we had many frank discussions/education sessions about it/alcohol/other drugs over and over in HS in a way that did keep lines of communication open as much as you can with HS age kids. While he did smoke quite a bit through high school and we mostly knew about it because we had a very open relationship and had drilled addiction info into all the kids and cousins and emphasized the slippery slope, how if you're not managing feelings/learning how to cope without substances, and no one is born saying "gee, I want to be an addict when I grow up" discussions. We actually said pot is likely the least problematic of what you'll be offered by others in HS/college and beyond because that's our family's experience, and we're not unrealistic in thinking our kids won't be tempted, esp those impulsive ADHD ones. We also set guidelines/rules in place - tricky because they can be hard to enforce.

Through a series of medical events in one of our kids and in DH, we actually learned how marijuana/THC tinctures/CBD could help with chronic illness symptoms, focus for ADHD/brain issues like fog, chronic fatigue, tremors and pain relief. It is a miracle for some and less addictive, if managed, than most other drugs. There's evidence in states with med mj that all pharma drug use, esp for pain, has decreased. The high content THC is definitely an issue though and has led some to addiction but not everyone by any far stretch. Psychosis can happen but is pretty rare. However, certain strains of medical marijuana do actually help those with ADHD and with less side effects than prescription ADHD meds which so many with ADHD detest taking. DS is a very successful college student, still smokes, but manages it, takes breaks and it hasn't made him a couch potato at all or led to any addictions at this point.

NP and thanks for this post. I have a 15 yo with ADHD whos experimented with alcohol and marijuana. We talk a lot and I agree how it’s so important to keep those lines of communication open. I’ve discussed with my son how I understand he will continue to experiment with things in his life but how it will be safer to go to a dispensary when he’s of age than getting who knows what from a random dealer that can be laced. DH and I smoked pot back in the day and never did anything else so it can be used responsibly and people can grow up to be adults with careers. I’m interested to learn more about medical benefits and ADHD since my son is also resistant to traditional medication. I’m glad your son is doing well in college.