If you tried drugs growing up...
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Anonymous
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Another "good girl" here who used pot occasionally. DCs have asked, and we have both admitted to our casual use. Neither of us has done pot in two decades.
One thing to bear in mind is that pot is a lot stronger today than it was in our day. Also, recent MRI studies have shown regular pot use actually changes teenagers' brain structure - the ratio of white to grey matter, also the size of the hypocampus. Not all of the studies are reliable, for example as a researcher I'm not impressed by the studies that compare kids across very different SES backgrounds. Instead you want to look at the few studies that follow the same kids through adolescence, mapping brain changes at 13 and then in the early 20s. Surprisingly, the brain changes are very evident in teenagers, presumably because it affects them while their brains are still growing, but there is no (as of now) evidence that adults brains change due to regular pot use. We serve the kids wine at holiday dinners. But DH and I stopped having the occasional glass of wine during the week after DS made a sneering remark about the hypocrisy of a friend's dad, who lectured about pot after his nightly can of beer. Looking forward to when DS goes off to college.... |
Anonymous
Can I come over? I'll bring pizza... |
Anonymous
Except, however unlikely, you can be federally prosecuted for recreational pot still. Odds of it happening are probably zilch, but that IS a glaring difference between a can of DC Brau microbrew and a small batch organic, vegan edible muffin or some other such yuppie pot product 
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Anonymous
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I'm PP above- I should clarify that there is a glaring difference if the argument is "pot isn't good because its illegal and ramifications are something you have to think about". Its certainly a bad argument and hypocritical if the argument is "pot is evil, but beer is great"
Just saying, you can have a beer and an aversion to allowing pot in your home (while illegal) and not be a hypocrite. |
Anonymous
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I don't have a problem disclosing my experimentation with my kids, when they are of an age when that conversation would be in any way meaningful. My list is regular cigarettes, alcohol (in various forms), pot, LSD, mushrooms, cocaine, ecstasy and various prescription painkillers.
It will be important for the conversation that we have to include discussions of safety, much like the PP. I would prefer that if my daughter is going to drink at parties that she drinks something light, that she pours herself. I used to drink only beer from bottles, and I'd carry the caps in my pockets/purse so that I would always know how much I'd had. There are also general conversations about party safety that I think are important, as well as the "know your dealer" conversation my mom had with my after some of my friends bought some pot that was laced with PCP or something else scary. |
Anonymous
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I haven't yet decided what I'm going to tell them. Probably the truth. If you asked me two months ago, I would have been sure I was going to lie, but after having a very candid conversation with my nephew, I'm not sure. My nephew is 18 and his parents were both very responsibe, oldest children, who would never have experimented with anything. Ever. My sister found a bag of granulated sugar (used as a prop in a church retreat drug awareness skit) and she was sure it was cocaine.
Someone needed to talk openly and honestly with that boy while not freaking out. Someone who could say "I've been there, done this, and won't do it again because.........". |
Anonymous
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We've started to have these conversations. I'm still not sure what the right approach is, but I've been honest to a degree. It's an issue complicated by a host of factors, which we've discussed. Some of them are:
Marijuana isn't the same drug it was when I was smoking my crappy ditch weed. Legalities. The socioeconomic reality and danger of the trade: see sketchy dealer neighbors for example A. Do you want to participate in this? What the hell is actually in whatever you are getting is a mystery. But what about when grandma was dying and chemo made her sick? Is that ok? But what about places where it's now legal? What addiction is, and how you may have a genetic tendency towards it. Ditto depression What can happen if you start experimenting with this stuff before puberty is over and your brain is still forming. A real conversation about set and setting, and how that can affect an experience as well as one's safety. This isn't a comprehensive list, but this has ALL come up in conversation. My son is TWELVE, by the way, and kids at school are already telling tales about who is trying what. So far my son seems pretty turned off to the idea. |
Anonymous
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I just read a nice article, I think in Columbia magazine of all places.
The pot of my teen years is not the pot of today. THC content is up sixfold (or more in medical marijuana states). When I think of that in terms of alcohol it is like comparing my "evening glass of wine" to beer bongs and binging. That's the lesson for my kid, I think. He's a straighter arrow than I ever was. |
Anonymous
Sure! I'll provide the wine 
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Anonymous
That is what my friend's parents told us in 1983. |
Anonymous
Wow! I have absolutely no memory of posting this! I must've been drunk. 
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