Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Their brains are still developing. You may think it's relatively harmelss, but you're wrong.

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.

Anonymous wrote:Their brains are still developing. You may think it's relatively harmelss, but you're wrong.

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.

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.

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.

Their brains are still developing. You may think it's relatively harmelss, but you're wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

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

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.

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

If OP's kid spent a summer in Europe he smoked cigarettes.

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

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

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

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).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We all smoked as teenagers. Now as adults, we are your everyday upper middle class neighbours.

I have come to believe that you either have an addictive personality or you do not. Most people can take or leave pot, its not going to necessarily be a one-way street to addiction.

Hm, no. Not everyone smoked as a teenager and not everyone is smoking as an adult. And believe me, I can easily tell who is from my office smoking weed.

Please share how you're able to easily discern who from your office is smoking weed. I'm sure this method has zero confirmation bias whatsoever.

After that please share why you're sitting at work profiling potential potheads.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:Former pot head here. Smoked daily in high school through TTC so did DH. I'm pregnant with my second so haven't smoked in 6 years between pregnancy and breastfeeding. We are very high funnctioning, highly educated members of the community. DH still smokes after DD is in bed. I plan to after breastfeeding. Never did any other drugs. My mom tried countless times to stop me but nothing ever worked. I don't have advice and don't know how I'd react in your situation but just wanted to let you know that he's not doomed for rehab if it doesn't stop.

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.

Anonymous wrote:9 out of the 10 pot heads I knew in high school underachieved. In college it's a bit different because they obviously had the candle power and ambitious to get into an very selective college. And they're more mature to balance things. I will not let my kids smoke weed in high school. Period.

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.