Found a pot pipe in teen's room this morning.

[Anonymous]

It still doesn't mean pot is harmless. And I've read stats to the contrary. A single toke of pot is apparently a lot stronger than a single puff of cigarettes. If you're imbibing pot on a regular basis you're still damaging your lungs, just like cigarettes.

Bumming a cigarette at a party once in a while or taking a toke once in a while are probably no different from each other in the scheme of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why not smoke cigarettes too? do you think pot smoke is any better for your lungs?

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he starts now, it will be rampant by college. You really shouldn't come down hard on him, but discuss what he was thinking and how he thinks that will turn out for him. Also, this is old, but funny; there is a taxi episode where Jim was brilliant and at HYP when his gf introduced him to pot. And, of course, he ended up as Jim.

You cannot generalize like that. I first used pot in high school and used it very few times in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree you should remove it and communicate a zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol. It is however much more common than when I was in high school. (Most kids I knew drank but did not smoke pot. It is probably the reverse now, or at least both are very common.)

Establishing a zero tolerance policy for alcohol is a very bad move. If I had gone to college not knowing how much alcohol I could handle I would have been in a lot of danger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Welllllllll it izz against the law. And it can be very de-motivating. I mean, in many ways I feel it's healthier than a drink/cocktail. BUT there is a reason for the drinking age - children often lack the self control required to imbibe safely.

ALSO the teenage brain is STILL DEVELOPING. It is the LAST organ to fully develop. Introduce pot-smoking NOW and you are looking at a mixed bag of issues that I PROMISE will hold him back as he gets older.

I agree with your first sentence. I disagree with your "promise" in the second. I know so many people who were pot heads in HS who are uber successful now. Pot is stronger now so I suspect there is more reason for concern now but don't know either way.

EXACTLY! My Ivy college fraternity purchased pot for all its parties, and always WAY too much pot. I would often end up holding 4 joints since there was no one else to pass it to who didn't already have at least one joint. Virtually all my Ivy frat brothers are uber successful now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, OP, it could be true, it's a memento. (I don't believe that but let's say it's true.)

I'd say, look, this is not reflective of our family values, it's inappropriate, illegal, and I don't want it in our house. It has to go.

The real reason it has to go is it's a cue. It normalizes the idea that pot smoking is ok, and for you and your family, it is not.

And btw, holy cow, the difference between pot on an adult brain, and a youth's brain, is significant.

You know I just read an article--argh I don't know where anymore but you can google it--it was the result of a research study and the bottom line was this: that regardless if you are a slacker or a highly motivated non-slacker, pot makes you a slacker.

Wrong. I used pot when I was younger and am now an Ivy college, Ivy law school litigator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It still doesn't mean pot is harmless. And I've read stats to the contrary. A single toke of pot is apparently a lot stronger than a single puff of cigarettes. If you're imbibing pot on a regular basis you're still damaging your lungs, just like cigarettes.

Bumming a cigarette at a party once in a while or taking a toke once in a while are probably no different from each other in the scheme of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why not smoke cigarettes too? do you think pot smoke is any better for your lungs?

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.

And most importantly, pot does not contain nicotene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It still doesn't mean pot is harmless. And I've read stats to the contrary. A single toke of pot is apparently a lot stronger than a single puff of cigarettes. If you're imbibing pot on a regular basis you're still damaging your lungs, just like cigarettes.

Bumming a cigarette at a party once in a while or taking a toke once in a while are probably no different from each other in the scheme of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why not smoke cigarettes too? do you think pot smoke is any better for your lungs?

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.

And most importantly, pot does not contain nicotene.

Huh? Why is nicotene SOOOOO bad relatively speaking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It still doesn't mean pot is harmless. And I've read stats to the contrary. A single toke of pot is apparently a lot stronger than a single puff of cigarettes. If you're imbibing pot on a regular basis you're still damaging your lungs, just like cigarettes.

Bumming a cigarette at a party once in a while or taking a toke once in a while are probably no different from each other in the scheme of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why not smoke cigarettes too? do you think pot smoke is any better for your lungs?

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.

And most importantly, pot does not contain nicotene.

Huh? Why is nicotene SOOOOO bad relatively speaking?

Are you seriously asking this question? Nicotene is a poison used as an insecticide. It is also highly addictive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It still doesn't mean pot is harmless. And I've read stats to the contrary. A single toke of pot is apparently a lot stronger than a single puff of cigarettes. If you're imbibing pot on a regular basis you're still damaging your lungs, just like cigarettes.

Bumming a cigarette at a party once in a while or taking a toke once in a while are probably no different from each other in the scheme of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why not smoke cigarettes too? do you think pot smoke is any better for your lungs?

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.

I didn't say it was harmless. Lots of things are harmful in large doses that are less harmful in small doses. Red meat, for example. Alcohol. Hell, the mercury in tuna is safe in small doses but toxic in larger ones.

I wasn't talking about the difference between bumming one cigarette or taking one hit. I was talking about a person who smokes cigarettes daily and a person who smokes pot daily. One person is ingesting less smoke than the other. Most smokers do not just bum one cigarette, even if they are not pack-a-day smokers. The woman who works next to me is a smoker and a usual smoking day for her is before work, a mid-morning break, after lunch, mid-afternoon, and then however many times after she leaves the office. That's at least 4 just during the work day.

[Anonymous]

Okay, squares, listen up - marijuana is much, much less harmful than alcohol. It has medicinal properties. It's the healing of the nation, as Mr. Tosh so eloquently put it. Obviously, moderation is key. You all keep clutching your pearls, but the amount of misinformation on here, driven by inexperience and ignorance, is frustrating to read. Devil's lettuce my ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It still doesn't mean pot is harmless. And I've read stats to the contrary. A single toke of pot is apparently a lot stronger than a single puff of cigarettes. If you're imbibing pot on a regular basis you're still damaging your lungs, just like cigarettes.

Bumming a cigarette at a party once in a while or taking a toke once in a while are probably no different from each other in the scheme of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why not smoke cigarettes too? do you think pot smoke is any better for your lungs?

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.

And most importantly, pot does not contain nicotene.

Huh? Why is nicotene SOOOOO bad relatively speaking?

Are you seriously asking this question? Nicotene is a poison used as an insecticide. It is also highly addictive.

It is highly addictive but not generally considered harmful.

[Anonymous]

Some of the responses in here shock me-could you imagine if ALCOHOL or TOBACCO where found in these kids rooms. We would be having to call off the National Guard off some of these parents. But a substance that locks your brain up, can have staggering affects on young brains and damages brain cells (doesn't kill) and makes you very lethargic and can cause memory loss and lung problems is A OK? That is dead wrong. Don't throw the kid in jail but seriously-part of the problem why we have so many kids dying of heroin overdoses is because of enabling behavior like this. Would you act the same way if you found tabs of acid (as safe as weed), a vial of coke or a crack pipe. Hell NO! IT IS YOUR HOUSE AND HE IS STASHING DRUG PARAPHENELIA IN THE HOUSE. IF IT BECOMES LEGAL HE AND YOU WOULD STILL BE ARRESTED. He could still lose his job or get evicted for having in on his property if he was an adult.

It is a mind opening substance very similar to mushrooms and Acid but not quite as hallucinatory and more static. Very similar to being drunk but without being drunk and more of in a state of mental consciousness. Can be a depressive substance and exacerbate mental health issues. In my life and in my sons life-this has only lead to being a bad thing. Our oldest had a group of friends who were extremely smart kids that turned into cocaine addicts and got addicted to oxycontin stemming from constant marijuana usage. My son himself said people tried to say that the pot had nothing to do with it his words "yeah Im sorry but they didn't give a shit about booze and only weed". 1 of his friends has died from a overdose and the other 2 are unemployed and still daily smoking at 25(met all these kids at college). Very smart kids who took a very bad turn. He states that they were not like that before they got into the weed and while he states that it did not lead them to do heroin it had a very prominent role in getting into that crowd and being constantly screwed up.

You have a choice here-do you sweep this under the rug and let the kid experience a whole world of depersonalization, depression and motivation errors that can pop up by the time he is 21 or do you put your foot down and tell him hell no. I swear parents like this who think the only thing matters is grades are the reason all these kids go down these roads. Man up and don't make excuses for him-HE IS 16 AND IS 5 years too young to be anywhere around that. If he was 21 or 22, I would tell him that I didn't condone it and ask him to stop but not go nuclear. At 16-he would have the door taken off the room and be on Defcon 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, squares, listen up - marijuana is much, much less harmful than alcohol. It has medicinal properties. It's the healing of the nation, as Mr. Tosh so eloquently put it. Obviously, moderation is key. You all keep clutching your pearls, but the amount of misinformation on here, driven by inexperience and ignorance, is frustrating to read. Devil's lettuce my ass.

You are misinformed, the thc level of marijuana is much higher than it was years ago, the medical benefits of it are not from smoking a joint with your friends. Do some serious research about the teen brain and how it develops, you might learn something along the way.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nida-review-summarizes-research-marijuanas-negative-health-effects

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses in here shock me-could you imagine if ALCOHOL or TOBACCO where found in these kids rooms. We would be having to call off the National Guard off some of these parents. But a substance that locks your brain up, can have staggering affects on young brains and damages brain cells (doesn't kill) and makes you very lethargic and can cause memory loss and lung problems is A OK? That is dead wrong. Don't throw the kid in jail but seriously-part of the problem why we have so many kids dying of heroin overdoses is because of enabling behavior like this. Would you act the same way if you found tabs of acid (as safe as weed), a vial of coke or a crack pipe. Hell NO! IT IS YOUR HOUSE AND HE IS STASHING DRUG PARAPHENELIA IN THE HOUSE. IF IT BECOMES LEGAL HE AND YOU WOULD STILL BE ARRESTED. He could still lose his job or get evicted for having in on his property if he was an adult.

It is a mind opening substance very similar to mushrooms and Acid but not quite as hallucinatory and more static. Very similar to being drunk but without being drunk and more of in a state of mental consciousness. Can be a depressive substance and exacerbate mental health issues. In my life and in my sons life-this has only lead to being a bad thing. Our oldest had a group of friends who were extremely smart kids that turned into cocaine addicts and got addicted to oxycontin stemming from constant marijuana usage. My son himself said people tried to say that the pot had nothing to do with it his words "yeah Im sorry but they didn't give a shit about booze and only weed". 1 of his friends has died from a overdose and the other 2 are unemployed and still daily smoking at 25(met all these kids at college). Very smart kids who took a very bad turn. He states that they were not like that before they got into the weed and while he states that it did not lead them to do heroin it had a very prominent role in getting into that crowd and being constantly screwed up.

You have a choice here-do you sweep this under the rug and let the kid experience a whole world of depersonalization, depression and motivation errors that can pop up by the time he is 21 or do you put your foot down and tell him hell no. I swear parents like this who think the only thing matters is grades are the reason all these kids go down these roads. Man up and don't make excuses for him-HE IS 16 AND IS 5 years too young to be anywhere around that. If he was 21 or 22, I would tell him that I didn't condone it and ask him to stop but not go nuclear. At 16-he would have the door taken off the room and be on Defcon 2.

I actually thing marijuana is safer than alcohol (and many scientists agree). I also think that if OP had found a beer or a pack of cigarettes in her son's room, there wouldn't be nearly the hand-wringing. Those are socially acceptable substances, and while the OP probably wouldn't have been thrilled to find them, I don't think she'd've been asking for advice about how to handle it.

If my mom had taken my door off the hinges after finding a (never used) pipe in my room, or a beer, or a pack of cigarettes, I would have become MORE secretive, not less secretive. Your anecdotes about your son's friends are sad, but those are possibilities, not inevitabilities. I smoked pot in high school, maintained good grades, went to college, and am now a successful adult with kids of my own. I have also smoked more recently than high school, because it's legal where I live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, squares, listen up - marijuana is much, much less harmful than alcohol. It has medicinal properties. It's the healing of the nation, as Mr. Tosh so eloquently put it. Obviously, moderation is key. You all keep clutching your pearls, but the amount of misinformation on here, driven by inexperience and ignorance, is frustrating to read. Devil's lettuce my ass.

You are misinformed, the thc level of marijuana is much higher than it was years ago, the medical benefits of it are not from smoking a joint with your friends. Do some serious research about the teen brain and how it develops, you might learn something along the way.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nida-review-summarizes-research-marijuanas-negative-health-effects

Again, it's a much more benign substance than alcohol or cigarettes. Many studies corroborate that. Unfortunately, a lot of meaningful studies have been prevented due to marijuana's schedule 1 status. I know all about THC levels today versus 1960's. I am fully aware the teen brain is more susceptible to harm than an adult's brain(~fully formed around age 25). However, marijuana is much less physically harmful than booze. I stand by my assertions that a many teetotalers here are misinformed. Weed is legal in several states, and guess what, once California goes in November, so goes the nation. I also think magic mushrooms should be legal. We should somewhat emulate portugal's method. Obviously kids shouldn't smoke weed.