Would you mind if your teenager smoked weed?

[SecretSquirrels]

DS1 now 16 has recently mentioned several times that he has seen people he knows smoking weed. Not any of his friends but his year group and younger. He is very straight laced and judgy about it but reckons there has been zero drugs education at school and there should be (his opinion as well as mine).

I have seen two threads recently on which many, many posters openly admitted to smoking weed. I don't know whether these are very young parents with young children or whether they have teenagers but I am genuinely shocked.
Am I so out of touch or out of date that this is now normal?

I didn't say I expect you to be relaxed, I said having had your experience I think you are completely entitled to your concern.

I do quite a lot of volunteer work with teens in my area, which is an inner city area and one where it is common to smoke weed. Something I have seen, is thatout of those without any background to usage such as parents, those who start younger so around 13 ish, as opposed to those who start at sort of college age 16/17ish (this seems to be the more popular time for multiple reasons but mainly freedom, money and lack of commitments) are those who have more of a propensity for behavioural struggles. So not necessarily all of them take up the smoking but noticeably those who have indulged at the younger stages are the ones who go on to have problems without binging the smoking into the mix so yes pregnancies, criminal stuff, gangs (problem round here). My personal opinion is that this is because they are the group who are doing much too much much too young, they are typically the first in their years to have sex, adult relationships, drink, be arrested etc etc. this is only something I've formed from speaking to teens over the past 10 to 15 years in my area so not exactly scientific but it's something that enforces my personal choices.

That's fine

As I said I feel it's all down to personal experience and the individual. It's never done me any harm but only time will tell and perhaps later on in hindsight I will or won't feel the same, who knows.

I feel it's ok for my dcs because, well the older 2 don't know much about the youngest one yet, have not been in the vulnerable group, I know them and my own and my familial experiences so I feel it's ok and as its something we are open and honest about I trust that they and I can deal with their decision in regards to weed whatever it is.

I do understand that if people haven't had much or only negative experiences of it then it is understandable they would be fearful but I don't feel that other peoples opinions should be dismissed and be described as drug addicts when the accusers haven't done any unbiased research.

Not all for you Maryz

'There is no doubt that ds's group were the vulnerable group, the ones who were likely to go off the rails. But I feel very strongly that had they not found dope, they might not have gone off the rails quite so spectacularly.'

This has been 100% my observation too, both in the school I attended way back in the 70s/80s, in college, and in the schools my DCs have attended.

The different between Ruby and Bumbaclot is that one is fair, balanced, has empathy and can see it from all sides......the other is just an arse wipe.

over and out.

Arse wipe? Really? No wonder cyberbullying among kids is a problem if that's how the mothers talk to each other....

Janni bumbaclot by the poster's own admission?

Juule got it in one!

Janni, get off your high horse and take a look at what Bumbaclot means.

OK, got it, sorry

No worries :)

Ad hominems.

No matter what you think about the recreational effects of weed, you cannot deny its medical properties. I think this information is important to get out there, particularly when it is showing great promise in treating many types of cancer (by binding to the CBD receptors and telling the cancer cells to die while leaving the healthy cells alone). It sounds ludicrous that an illegal drug teenagers smoke can also treat cancer, but this has already been proved scientifically. It's not smoked but instead turned into an oil which is administered topically or by taking a spoonful.

It's all well and good talking about it, but actually seeing it is better. Check out the pictures on the right of this site where cannabis oil is topically applied to the cancer and proceeds to cure it: www.cannabisscience.com/

Some articles:
www.naturalnews.com/033757_cannabis_oil_cancer_cure.html

Old BBC article: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7098340.stm

The Daily Mail of all newspapers! www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1383240/Boy-brain-cancer-cured-secretly-fed-medical-marijuana-father.html

The illegality and muddied image of cannabis means that the use of this drug as an official treatment for cancer and other illnesess isn't a reality. Does this not illuminate some of the motives behind drug legislation? Why is something that could potentially help millions of people illegal? Do the government really give a shit about our health, especially when drugs like tobacco and alcohol are legal? Am I posting bullshit? If you think it isn't, do you think this information is valuable and should be shared?

The reason I posted it is because it should be public knowledge. Spreading information - using the internet as intended.

It's a bit offtopic yes, but if weed can be used to save lives, it's not helping the claim that it ruins lives. Also, it's just valuable info that more people should know about. If you don't give a shit that's fine, but I think a cancer cure is in everyone's interest (except for big pharma). This isn't some stoner bullshit. It's not like it's smoked for the purpose of getting high, this is for medical reasons and used as an oil. It has nothing to do with kids ruining their lives and yet the media is almost silent about these breakthough medical benefits, but they're more than happy to spread unscientific fear mongering (they know exactly how to scare parents). Some kind of agenda is being pushed here, and it's not one with our wellbeing in mind.

Bumbaclot Wed 04-Jul-12 23:36:02
"It's a bit offtopic yes, but if weed can be used to save lives, it's not helping the claim that it ruins lives."

What a bizarre argument! Surely it is basic medical knowledge that many of the drugs used to save life also have serious health implications. If you are at danger of dying from cancer, you accept that the drugs will damage your health and trust the doctor to get the balance between cure and damage right.

My dd is currently taking medication which has known health risks - including a known risk of suicidality. We accept this risk because we are convinced that her risk of dying is even higher if she does not take her medication. But I would absolutely hit the ceiling if anyone encouraged her brother, who is not at risk from her condition, to take anything similar.

Cory, bizarre is the word! And sorry to hear about your dd, hope she makes a full recovery.

Bumbaclot or as I affectionally prefer Arsewipe, why don't you start your own thread then, about the benefits of cannabis.

Your arguements from the start have had no place on this thread and like I said before you are making yourself out to be a crazy person!

Many many drugs have benefits depending on how they are used/ prescribed, this thread is about drug Abuse. If the op's son's friends were doing it for the good of there health then they wouldn't be smoking it would they? They'd be eating it.

Make your own thread Arsewipe. Go on please.

Thanks for that Maryz. I more or less abandoned this thread as I didn't like the way things were going. I have however saved it all in case, God forbid, I ever need it.
I thought about how to phrase the OP but maybe didn't quite get it right.

I'd go bonkers.

Raging hypocrite here, because I spent a great deal of my time off my face as a young woman. But if my children so much as sniffed the smoke blowing out of someone's nose, I'd hit the roof.

Education is key, imo. I am going to make sure they both know how damaging and dangerous drugs are.

I am so sorry, Maryz. It must be hell on earth for you all. I feel really guilty now that my post could be seen to be saying that people who have a child who is taking drugs haven't educated them. I didn't mean to imply that. I was just saying that I will make sure they know how dangerous it is. I didn't mean to come across like that will obviously ensure they don't try it - just that I'll make sure they have the facts.