studious clever teen using drugs

[Claybury]

Anyone have experience of a teen using drugs and working really hard for GCSE almost as if to prove drugs aren't harmful ? Maybe among his druggie friends he IS the smart one ? ( he has told me he is the least likely to develop a drug problem because he's the clever one...- to which I replied perhaps that means he has the lost to lose?)
Btw he's not exceptionally clever, he thinks he'll get A's in most subjects, he has no other hobbies or interest/ no sports. Does his homework then goes out on a weekend. Says things like ' I got an A in my French mock, can I go out later?

By drugs I mean regular weed, plus mdma / ketamine / speed / 2cb during summer holidays. He thinks it's all fine, he's in control, doesn't smoke on a school night.

I can see why some students use Ritalin to help them focus with there study's but using ( weed, plus mdma / ketamine / speed / 2cb ) that's just dangerous.

Victorian... Ritalin makes no sense (to me anyway) at GCSE level. They are not that high pressured. If this was a finalist uni student, I'd probably agree (think the user was stupid), but at least see their point.

Polonius a lot of schools pile huge pressure on GCSE students. There are kids all over the country doing extra GCSES to get the school's Average Point Score up.

OP, spend the whole summer on one of the Scottish islands, somewhwre with no broadband/wifi. Take A level revision books. Don't give him advanced warning. Once there, search all his bags and clothes and destroy any drugs you find.

For the summer.....Sign him up to volunteer with an organisation like this.
jst.org.uk/our-tall-ships/life-on-board/

It will keep him busy, physically active and make him realise how lucky he is.......

one of my brothers has been a heavy weed user through GCSEs A levels, BA and Msc - passed them all OK.
now he lives in his parents basement unable to take a bus or have driving lessons with no social life.

but his mum pretends that it is all ok and normal because he did well academically.....

my friends and I were heavily into recreational drug use from the ages of 15 - early twenties.

we've all gone to gain degrees and good jobs (not to say I don't know of people who have developed health problems due to excessive cannabis use), inc PHD's and managerial positions.

of course recreational drug use has lots of side effects, but it's more common than most people think and isn't always a "slippery slope".

My brother started at your sons age, he's 43 now, lives in a bedsit and has finally got a temp job sweeping the streets. My brother was a lovely bright boy, now he's reclusive, paranoid and sad.

Do whatever you can to stop him.

I wouldn't personally go down the moral guilt trip avenue. It doesn't work. He doesn't see a moral issue with it, lots of people don't, it'll just alienate you to him.

I would use a motivational interviewing approach which is adopted widely in drug and alcohol services and is easy to use. A simple pros and cons list of continuing to use and discontinuing use. Done together, with him coming up with the points. It will help you see where he is coming from and if he is missing out any of the (what will be to you) glaring potential negatives then you can talk about that.

This is an old thread.

I have used drugs since I was approx 11 years old and I'm educated to post-graduate level, married, hold down a professional career and look after three children.

I continue to poly-drug use now with the only real exceptions being alcohol and nicotine. My current drug of choice is d-methamphetamine ('crystal meth') but I have used all the aforementioned substances on many occasions.

My eldest 14 year old daughter knows of mine and my hubby's extensive drug use and has shown no signs of taking a similar path. I have neither discouraged or encouraged her only informed her of my experiences both positive and negative. She says she isn't ready to experiment and I respect her maturity with regards to this decision.

I suspect I know much more about the drug use of her peers than any other parent in her circle as result of our openness.

Nice people use drugs too but many problems result directly from prohibition rather than toxicity and seemingly do little to stop her friends from purchasing almost anything they want on the blackmarket.

One of the biggest "stoners" in ds year recieved 6 A*'s and 5 A's on his gcse's