If your high schooler regularly smoked pot

[vanillacourage]

Would you be upset?

Pot for me really was a gateway drug and I got into some semi-dangerous shenanigans that I’m lucky didn’t have far-reaching consequences, so I would not be thrilled. Still, I think I could be more upset if they got addicted to cigarettes. 

[Deleted]

Absolutely.

[cabbagecabbage]

I’d be more upset about cigarettes...I think. Until I get there, it’s hard to imagine. I smoked lot of pot my senior year but dropped it easily when I went to college. I also smoked cigarettes and that was much harder to quit and took me a decade to kick.

[Deleted]

Not really? I mean, I wouldn't be thrilled, but I did it and it wasn't a gateway drug for me. I also don't have a problem if any consenting adult wants to smoke it either and am glad that it is getting legalized in so many places.

[wildrice]

Well... I don't know. I am fine with people smoking pot in general. But a high schooler is still a kid. I think it's reasonable to expect most kids experiment with getting high or drunk at some point, but I think that's too young to be ok with it being a regular thing. They are still developing, need to focus on studies, etc. I do think an adult responsibly using pot regularly is different than a kid doing it.

IDK about the gateway thing. I was never a regular user, but I have known plenty of them and I don't recall anyone getting into further trouble because of it. Perhaps for some personalities it would be an issue. I wouldn't necessarily assume that was the case.

[puppylove64]

Yes. I don’t want any drug or alcohol use until 21 and up. Pot can still cause problems for developing brains.

[devonpow]

Yep. It’s legal here now but not at high school age. I view pot like alcohol - I’m not going to go crazy if it’s an occasional thing and they are safe about it, but regular consumption (which I’m viewing as weekly/multiple times a week) isn’t ok.

[vanillacourage]

In my case the gateway effect was more from hanging around people who did pot, who it turned out also did shrooms, and oh hey also coke, etc. I was lucky to keep my head on straight and not get too into that scene, apart from a lot of time spent listening to Pink Floyd under a black light, lol. I also pulled a Peter Gibbons and decided I didn’t want to go to school anymore, unfortunately for me I still had most of 2nd semester senior year left. It all got straightened out but I’m sure I took a few years off my mother’s life. 

[isabel]

Yes, probably. I don’t have a problem with marijuana, per se, but it’s not good for developing adolescent brains. I’m pretty anti smoking of any kind, be it cigarettes, weed, or more hardcore drugs.

I have much less of an issue with alcohol.

[onomatopoeia]

I guess it opens on what you mean by regularly and what else was going on. A 17 yo smoking it every weekend with their friends, who were overall good kids, and my kid was staying in school and got decent grades and had goals? Eh. I wouldn't like it but I wouldn't freak out.

A 15 yo smoking on weeknights instead of doing homework, smoking alone, grades suffering and being a general lazy-ass? I'd have a problem with that.

[mcsangel2]

Oct 23, 2018 8:26:24 GMT -5 puppylove64 said:

Yes. I don’t want any drug or alcohol use until 21 and up. Pot can still cause problems for developing brains.

This is how I feel. This is a bigger concern these days since pot plants have been bred to contain way higher amounts of THC than they did naturally, decades ago. I think the program I saw a long time ago said it can negatively affect brain development up to about age 26 or so.

Beyond that age, I'd rather someone smoked pot than tobacco.

[lovelyshoes]

I wouldn’t be happy. I grew up around a lot of cigarette smokers and although I wouldn’t want my kid smoking them, I would not be more or less upset about cigarettes. It’s still smoking and it’s not good either way. I hope he is not into either, but I also don’t get the easy going attitude towards pot.

[Leeham Rimes]

I wouldn’t be too breezy until college bc I know people, including me, go a little crazy in college with the freedom. It didn’t interfere with my life and drinking was a bigger issue for me during my freshman year.

I don’t imagine I’d be down with my high schooler doing it, same goes with drinking.

[mel]

I liken pot to cigarettes and alcohol with my kids. I would not be happy if they started any of these. DS1 is 16, almost 17, and I know DH and I would flip if we found out he was using any of these.

[glitzy07]

Yep.

But I am admittedly not very breezy about most substance use thanks to family history and generally being a prude. 

[konstantine]

I wouldn't be thrilled, but not as angry as my parents were when they found out I occasionally smoked senior year. I was definitely a way lazy kid when I did smoke, and I did stupid shit like skip first period to get high at the neighborhood park with my best friend before school.

I occasionally smoked in college as a stress relief type of thing, but not regularly.

I smoke almost nightly as an adult now (one or two hits right before bed) to help me sleep. I've completely come off any sleep aids and sleep better than ever, and my anxiety at night time, when it's usually most prevalent for me, is almost nonexistent.

[lexxasaurus]

Not a parent yet, but I think frequency of use, them being safe, age, etc, would all color how I handled it. Driving around and hot boxing a car? No way. Smoking with friends on some weekends during their senior year? Little more lax. I'd prefer they wait, but I would try not to lose my cool if I found out.
It wasn't my gateway drug (I started with harder drugs) and I know a lot of friends that just smoked and that was it. Harsh punishment didn't stop any of us from experimenting but it made us sneaky and unable to go to our parents if we needed a ride or anything.

[bex]

Yes, I would be upset. I understand that kids are going to experiment and try new things but if they were doing it "regularly" I wouldn't like it. I don't think I would flip if I found out that my 17 year old had tried pot a few times, but I would be upset if my 14 year old had or if it was a regular thing. I know a lot of people who do (and did) smoke pot regularly and most of them are extremely smart and successful people (including the neuroscientist who still smokes it regularly today, ha.) So I wouldn't view it as the end of the world but I wouldn't like it.

[Deleted]

Oct 23, 2018 8:58:16 GMT -5 bex said:

Yes, I would be upset. I understand that kids are going to experiment and try new things but if they were doing it "regularly" I wouldn't like it. I don't think I would flip if I found out that my 17 year old had tried pot a few times, but I would be upset if my 14 year old had or if it was a regular thing. I know a lot of people who do (and did) smoke pot regularly and most of them are extremely smart and successful people (including the neuroscientist who still smokes it regularly today, ha.) So I wouldn't view it as the end of the world but I wouldn't like it.

Pretty much this, word for word.

[WOUNDTIGHT]

Lolol that would not fly in my house. Drugs and alcohol on a regular basis vs. a brain that's still developing is a hard pass. Even with good grade, friendships, sports, whatever.
Maybe summer after graduation I'd loosen up the reigns.

[goldengirlz]

Oct 23, 2018 8:27:13 GMT -5 devonpow said:

Yep. It’s legal here now but not at high school age. I view pot like alcohol - I’m not going to go crazy if it’s an occasional thing and they are safe about it, but regular consumption (which I’m viewing as weekly/multiple times a week) isn’t ok.

Same. If DD is an otherwise responsible kid who tries it on occasion at a party? I wouldn’t condone it, but I’d look the other way (though she’d still have to sit through a talk with one of us about the health and safety risks). Regular use though would definitely lead to consequences.

And I don’t think it’s fair to compare pot and alcohol and deem one “safer” than the other. Pot is terrible for developing brains but alcohol is pretty fucking toxic. I think more people feel comfortable with alcohol because it’s a devil-you-know thing but alcohol is just as terrible to me.

[eb777888]

Yikes! Regularly?? I would be really concerned. Same with drinking and smoking.

[imojoebunny]

My kids are 12 and 9. For a variety of reasons, I talk to them often about the effects of early use of alcohol, drugs, and nicotine. I wouldn't lose my mind, if they were caught smoking pot, but I would make sure they understood the potential issues, short and long term, around using it, and help them find ways to make healthier choices for recreation and fun. My nephew was caught smoking pot at college recently, and it was an expensive mistake that could have gotten him kicked out of school.

[lolalolalola]

It’s now legal here, similar to alcohol and smoking, for those 18+

So I would view it similarly. Ok to experiment but not ok to be a regular user.

I find it so hard to relate to not being legal to drink alcohol until after college!

[pantsparty]

I think I'd be upset with regular use. I mean, if a teenager is "regularly" drinking, that's not a good thing.

I don't really think it matters if it's legal, the "my house my rules" overrules here.

You can see what a strict mom I am in my mind. LOL.

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

That shit is not happening in this house. His father and I are intimately familiar with all that stuff and he can't fool us. My parents were clueless.

[turnipthebeet]

Issa no from me. I am open minded, but regular use is a hard pass.

[halfpint]

Nope.
I dabbled as a high schooler, but regular use would be super concerning to me.
Just as regular alcohol use would be concerning.
Their little brains still have a lot of growing to do, and I'd like that to happen uninhibited by drugs and alcohol.
I'd also admittedly be more concerned with smoking vs consumables - it may not be cigarettes, but that shit still isn't good for your lungs.

[eddy]

Yes, because their pea sized brains are not mature enough to be making decisions on things that can alter their mental state and can be addictive. 

It falls into the same box as cigarettes and alcohol. All have addictive qualities. All are substances I do not think teens are mature enough to handle.

[eddy]

Also I drank in high school and I still would rather my kids make better choices than I made.

I