<p>The son is in danger. Nitrous oxide is Russian roulette.</p>
<p>It isn’t the end of the world to come home and regroup, get counseling, then foray out in ways that are possible.</p>
<p>As a jazz musician, he may be able to continue with music at the same time.</p>
<p>Finally, I would suggest heading over to the music forum. The issue of parents discouraging music, whether subtly or not, comes up all the time. It does sound like some of your comments might have been misinterpreted as not being supportive of music studies. Often, that forum discusses how major does not have to match work anyway, and 4 years to wholeheartedly pursue something the kid loves is invaluable.</p>
<p>As for premed, a few years back I read that as a group, music majors have the highest admit rate to medical school, at 66%. Not sure if that is true anymore: this was 4 or 5 years ago. But it makes the point, if med school is the end goal for him. It sounds like he could use more flexibility in the life goals envisioned for him though.</p>