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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My hot take after knowing a lot of drug users, addicts (alcohol and drugs), etc. over the course of my life: the way that drug use is sold to you as something that starts with a gateway and inevitably spirals into heroin overdose simply by the fact of repeated use is lacking in the key variable: trauma/mental illness. Yes, anecdotal, but I have never seen any recreational drug user enter into addiction when they were not self-medicating. Exposure and even semi-regular use is not sufficient. The people who get into this stuff heavily always have a narrative behind the narrative. Their brains start out different--the dopamine they are receiving feels more like a salve than it does to the rest of us; it's not that brains are all the same and they use pot and then the brain changes to need more pot.

Bottom line: take an inventory of what is really going on with your child--is there trauma (divorce, abuse, extreme bullying, etc.) and/or untreated mental illness (ADHD/anxiety/depression/other)? Get a handle on this stuff and get them seen by a professional and treated if needed before letting them develop a habit of self-medicating. This is where you can really help them. Also obviously talk about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, but grounding them for smoking pot is not really the extent of what you need to be doing with regard to substance abuse while your child is a teen.

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