This was not the case in my high school, but it was private. In college, there was certainly no connection between pot and achievement. My fraternity bought pot for its parties and most were high achiers, but this was an Ivy. |
I think this is interesting. Do you get buzzed everyday? I like pot, I think its crazy that its criminalized, but I fully own that when I do smoke a bit (which is pretty rare because of kids and schedules and all that) I do so to get high. Not out of my face high, but not just "relaxed" either, I am interested if those who smoke daily get no more than what you would get from having a good beer or a glass of wine on the couch or deck at the end of the day. Honestly curious. |
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These pot threads always end up in predictable ways. Probably because those who regularly imbibed (and may still do) assume that it's common for people to smoke pot and that "everyone" did (which is absolutely not true if statistics are anything to go by), while those who never/rarely touched pot and haven't touched it in years/decades are always surprised by those who still do pot because they're not surrounded by people who smoke regularly. Two different groups and mindsets and never the twain shall meet.
As for me, I err on the side of caution with pot because my experience echoes some of the posters above. I watched kids become potheads and it more or less changed the direction of their life in unnecessary ways. But it did not mean that all kids became low performing potheads. My Ivy alma mater certainly had its share of regular pot users who performed just fine. The trick is you don't know how your kid will end up. If something like this happened to me, I'd take the safer route by being the anti-pot parent, for at least I'd know I tried if the kid still ended up a failed pothead (and you high performing pot smokers frequently fail to realize how many kids end up failed potheads or how pot does act as a gateway drug for many drug addicts). By the way, a question for you pot smoking parents, would you be equally laid back if it was a pack of cigarettes found in your kid's room? Just wondering. |
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I think pot (and all alcohol and drugs) should be legal, and only harmful actions sometimes associated with drug use should be and remain illegal. I'm very much against laws that control what people choose to do to or with their own bodies, and think the government should only step in with laws in order to protect one person from harming or infringing the rights of another person. HOWEVER, since it's currently illegal for teens and illegal federally, I cannot condone it no matter how I feel about the law.
So, that's what I tell my teens. I think it's a personal choice and should be an informed one. Based on my research and risk analysis I think it's a bad idea; here's some things to look into. Regardless of their personal decision I can't agree with or condone it until they're of legal age and I cannot condone it in a home I own due to the consequences on my job and therefore the rest of the family if I know of and allow illegal activity. Though I disagree with it, this isn't the sort of law I personally feel is immoral and gives me a moral obligation to break -- which is one of the two lines at which I've always told the kids it's okay to ignore the law. |
After that please share why you're sitting at work profiling potential potheads. |
| so OP, what did you decide to do about the memento? his story sounds lame. hopefully you've confiscated it (if it's important to him, you can put it in a box and give it back when he's out of your house). |
| why not smoke cigarettes too? do you think pot smoke is any better for your lungs? |
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It's today's hypocrisy.
Socially acceptable to smoke pot but cigarettes are only for white trash. Cigarettes are awful and disgusting and should be banned, but turn a blind eye when it comes to pot. Freak out if you smell tobacco on your kid, but if you catch a whiff of pot you shrug and think, kids will be kids. Each generation has its vanities and hypocrisies and this is one of them
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If OP's kid spent a summer in Europe he smoked cigarettes. |
Most probably. And by the sound of it, also pot. And who cares? OP says he's a good kid, good student, good athlete. |
| Their brains are still developing. You may think it's relatively harmelss, but you're wrong. |
Honestly, when people smoke pot, it's not anywhere near the amount of some as if people are smoking cigarettes. If you take 3-4 hits of pot in a day, that's still less smoke than you'd get from smoking ONE cigarette. I don't know any smokers who smoke half a cigarette a day only. Also, smoking isn't the only way to ingest marijuana, though I'm willing to allow that OP's teenager is probably not making brownies. Edibles are a big thing in Colorado and Oregon. |
| For what it's worth, I have an artsy-looking water bong that I got as souvenir somewhere as a teenager because I thought it was so funny that it was being sold. I actually wouldn't even know how to use it and, in college, a friend made it into a lamp for me. So OP's DS' story doesn't seem that far-fetched to me... especially if you tack on that he might have wanted to look cool for his friends and that was part of the motivating factor behind the purchase. |
I suppose that depends on your definition of "relatively." Alcohol is more harmful than marijuana. It contributes to more death and destruction, has more severe health complications, and is more addictive. Marijuana is relatively harmless when compared with crack, meth, heroin. Is it a healthy and great thing for developing brains? Probably not. But it's really not the apocalypse you seem to think. |
The War on Drugs was built on fear, not facts. Please don't shatter people's delusions. |