Cannabis how bad is it...? ( long sorry)

I've been watching this thread with interest and here's my tuppence worth. I have used for ages and ages sometimes heavily and now far less than previously. I have had a very successful career to date and I see no reason for that to stop. Being a smoker is not relevant to how well you do in life. The most wealthy person I know smokes loads of weed everyday, he's a musician!. Frankly this thread is so mis-informed as to be laughable. I choose not to drink as I find the effects quite unpleasant but I have no problems smoking. If my child (I have two) dabbled with weed I wouldn't bat an eyelid, frankly what can you do anyway tie em up and lock em in I suppose?? Yes - it's not good for you Yes - It might really cause some people to go stark raving bonkers -Yes - It may lead some into harder drugs and Yes - It may even cause more cancer than smoking. But.... How many millions of people smoke the odd joint with no ill effects, go on to become useful members of society and have no issues at all....Loads that's how many.
Having a few teenage joints should not present an issue and if it does I'd suggest the problem lies elsewhere.

I have heard weed described as a thought amplifier - I'd say that sounds about right to me. What ever you are already, you'll be afterwards.

 

Maybe true, but this depends on what you do/want to do in/with your life.

The wealthiest person I know doesn't smoke weed everyday, so what does that prove? Well, nothing, obviously. What is wealth anyway, man, wealth in the fiscal sense or spiritual? Musicians being stoners, wow, what a concept. How about primary teachers and bus drivers? Maybe they would be the wealthiest people everyone knew if they smoked loads of weed.

:MILD: :SLEEP:

 

The vaults of Erowid

 

You mean Pete Doherty isn't doing anything new? My dreams are in tatters.

 

Maybe true, but this depends on what you do/want to do in/with your life.

Why's that then? Other than jobs where drug testing takes place I can see no reason that smoking the odd joint would affect your life in any way.

My point's simply that weed is such a non issue I don't understand the debate, smoking a bit of herb is nothing, nada, no big deal etc etc. A joint is much the same as a couple of pints IMHO. Yet people talk about people who smoke like they are complete wasters with major problems etc etc. I wonder how many of you drink a bottle of red wth dinner? Quite a few I suspect yet you wouldn't regard yourselves as alcholics, smoke a few joints and your immediately branded by some (very narrow minded) people as a stoner. Well frankly I dont see stoners out kicking **** out of each other every friday night cos they've had too many joints. The effect of a cannabis over dose is sleep!
It should be Legalised as soon as possible and all the antis can stop being such hypocrytes.

 

Jools for Prime Minister!!!

 

Joolsburger, I agree with you on the whole, and if you were to read all the posts from start to finish you'll see that a lot of the other contributors also agree! The overriding concensus was that smoking cannabis is not much of a prob unless it's particularly excessive.. I think it should be legalised from the point of view of it not being especially harmful and to eliminate the whole dealer issue. But legality wasn't the topic; it was whether it's a healthy occupation for a 16 year old at college, which it isn't, despite everything you've said.

 

Bl**dy hippies the lot of you. :MILD:

 

Sid - What have you decided to do with your 16 yr old in light of this thread?

a) Promoted weed use. (after all those yobs that drink all end up kicking the crap out of each other, not like stoners eh)
b) Tried to stop his use (after all he is only a child)
c) Nothing, let it run its course.
d) Tried it yourself.

Youve had the gamut of advice, it will be interesting to see how you approach it

 

Has anyone seen "Saving Grace"?

 

Trouble is, the brain cells have to take a rest the following day, having "overthought" the night before.

Success is relative.

 

Yep! Great film with some genuine belly laughs.

 

I have not read any of the thread really but thought I would add, as a teenager myself that it is VERY common to smoke a bit of weed here and there. I have always got it through friends so never met any nasty dealers. I do not smoke, but have a bit of skunk, solid etc now and then. I don't find it addictive at all and only smoke it pure. Some of my friends however do seem to find the stuff addictive. I believe they smoke not for the high, but because they want to escape from reality. The friends that smoke a lot have ****ed up lives and issues they can't deal with.

Basically what I am saying is that if other things for your son are just fine and you don't think he has an addictive personality then really dont worry about it. A few smokes a week won't hurt anyone. I would suggest that if he is going to smoke it, that he smokes it pure though, tobacco is, IME, worse than the weed!

 

I'm not in a huge tail spin about it, i.e. I don't think his world is going to come crashing to an end if i don't do something immediately. It could be a whole lot worse, it could be lighter fuel, petrol, Toluene, evo stick, etc... for this i thank my lucky stars that it is only a bit of hash - i really would have major cause for concern if it was anything else....


Basically this week was gonna be the week when i started to take some active steps regarding 'the situation' and then mother nature came along at the weekend and kicked the sh!t out of me with a nasty virus/bug/germ of some kind that has knocked me for six, I've been feeling under the weather all week and just haven't had the energy to give the problem ( because i do see it as a problem ..) my full attention.

I've written this post a few times now and then wiped it as it got too long winded, and i was opening up to too much personal info, however, Here are a few of my......observations and thoughts , we'll call them, probably in random order too, so ignore my bullets , they help me think whilst constructing a post...

i) I know some , but not all, of my lads current crop of friends, aquantencies and cronies, and something of some of their families and backgrounds. I have no doubt whatsoever that although some of them are just what i would class 'naughty' at the moment, petty crime for most is only just around the corner. Most have been suspended from school on a few occasions ( including my boy !)
( e.g. What would you think of a father who took his [truanting, known bully} teenage daughter upto a school bus stop in his car, so she could have a scrap with another kid- you get the picture = scum)

ii) Of the handfull that i know of quite well, my lad is the only one who is still living in a typical british 'atomic family' , with Mum & Dad ( both working and actually give a sh!t), siblings, dog, nice home, no crime...

iii) My boy will not be sharing the odd joint with acedemic friends during their gap year. He hangs about with NED's.

iv) Why let him hang about with NED's ? simple, You can't choose your kids friends, what you can do is give them love, care and support, hopefully demonstrating right from wrong, acceptable behaviour , from unacceptable behaviour by example.
What you do need to do though is keep your eyes and ears open, and monitor the situation, stepping in when needed, without cramping too much style and being too invasive. but you also need to do it while you still can. I like to keep my problems firmly on my (passive) Radar, where i can unobtrusively see them...

v) Encouraging their children to dabble in criminal activity by the use of illegal drugs is something that no sane parent with even the smallest levels of intelligence or common sense would do.

vii) The stuff my lad has been caught with is the resin stuff ( eg Red Leb, **** black, etc...) rather than the Herb variety ( Grass, Green, Bush, etc).

vi) My Lad started his college course in Sept. He had a 100% attendance record and one of the lecturers even phoned me for a progress report to say how well he was settling in and how pleased they were with him . ( we had a lot of problems at school....)

ix) 2 - 3 weeks later the same collecge lecturer phoned me to ask if there where any problems that they need to know about at home as his attendance had dropped noticably recently. I've since found out that two of his cronies who went to a different college , but live locally have 'dropped out', funnily enough about 2 - 3 weeks before my lads attendance went down.
Did i say he was easliy led....

x) My missus said she was worried about the amount of time he was spending moping in his room. I told her that's what teenagers do ? She thinks he may be depressed.

xi) Now i really am worried...

xiii) He smokes it with his pals I'm sure, but he also smokes it on his own , maybe it chills him out if he is a bit down for whatever reason. I think doctors and shrinks have a much better idea of what to do for kids who are feeling down , rather than leaving them to their own devices and street drugs....

See this is what happens when you are on your jack jones at stupid o'clock in the morning with a computer, you talk too much....

BTW, if anything i've said offends, don't take it personally, they're just thoughts and not aimed at anybody in particular at all. This thread is getting so long now that I'll need to re-read to see who said what again

Later...

Edited to add:
[non judgemental and completely passive mode - ON]
I'm a little surprised at the number of folk who actually take drugs.

 

My own kids are just 3 and 5 so I'm sure I have these 'joys' to come. However, I have seen my brothers', sister's and many friends' children grow up and, despite many a wrong turn, they seem to have turned out fine in the end.

Sid and Coke, You've done what you have thought is right and you'll continue to offer advice and guidance to the best of your ability. The stable home life that you and your wife have given him will provide him with an immense amount of strength and value for his future.

Your lad is 16 now and going to college so your influence (and control) is inevitably on the wane. You have to accept this and let go. Your son will determine his own future and, from what you've written, I should think he'll do ok. I expect that in time he will choose a different set of friends.

FWIW, if it was my boy I would have the 'drugs talk' with him in which I said I understood the enjoyment he gets from cannabis and appreciated that virtually all kids do it. As he grows up he must take responsibility for his own decisions, including his use of drugs and alcohol. Obviously he knows already that too much cannabis can screw people up (as does mis-use of other drugs, etc.). He must make his own judgements and you trust him to make the right ones.

I would ask him: "Do you know which way is up?" and let him answer "Yes".

 

Maybe he is depressed. Trust me, if he is you need to get cracking, its a long a dark road.