marijuana usage

Parent Cafe
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<p>I am a high school senior, and a licensed medical marijuana user. I smoke/vaporize/eat to alleviate my throat joint pain, and my IBS. I also smoke to get high!</p>

<p>I started smoking regularly at the end of my junior year, by the end of my senior year, I brought my GPA up from a 3.9 to a 4.2 cumulativley, I had a 4.6 first semester senior year, with college aps, ap and college classes, and smoking weed a lot. ( I have since cut back because of my sports commitments)</p>

<p>Be smart, don’t do it before school, work, or any obligation. Inspect the buds before you smoke them. Would you eat a rotten tomato? Any idiot can smell a bud or inspect it for mold, or pests that are on it. NO, people do not cut their weed with LSD, cocaine, meth, or anything else. It would cost more, the effects would be different, and it would not profit the dealer.</p>

<p>Let your kid smoke some weed, and have them be open about it with you. My parents know about everything I do because I come home and tell my mom about it later that night. </p>

<p>I have been a congressional intern in DC, won the largest student film festival in the country, honorable mention at the Emmy’s this year, and have been a top student at my school.</p>

<p>WEED WILL NOT DESTROY YOUR TEEN’S LIFE!!!</p>

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<p>aramin: That was a good post. Thanks.</p>

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<p>There are Medline references to THC inhibiting lung cancer cell growth and migration in vivo as well. There are numerous studies on the effects of marijuana on the lungs. However, the largest study so far (the UCLA study, as mentioned before) showed no link between cannabis smoking and lung cancer, or COPD, or emphysema.</p>

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<p>Pure synthetic THC is available as Marinol. It is indicated for palliation of chemotherapy side-effects. However, it is supposed to be an unpleasant-feeling drug (one of the key reasons for it being pushed as opposed to marijuana, that it would not be abused), and also does not perform as effectively as actual cannabis under clinical study, which some researchers suspect is due to the many other cannabinoids in actual cannabis - they are theorized to synergize with the THC.</p>

<p>A new spray form that contains cannabidiol as well as THC has recently been approved in Canada. It’s called Sativex.</p>

<p>At the end of the day though, you’re right: marijuana should be rescheduled so it can be used medically. That has not been done by the federal government. And it is because of a few representatives who would die before allowing it (Mark Souder being a good example). It’s their pet issue, and they feel it’s a wedge for wider drug legalization, so they block it. Its current scheduling is ridiculous (for reference, even cocaine is scheduled less harshly in America than marijuana).</p>

<p>The bottom line is, even if the only argument against smoking marijuana is that it is harmful to smoke, vaporization and oral ingestion methods (cannabutter… haha) are both very viable and both lack the downsides associated with smoking. Focusing on smoking has long been the FDA and other agencies’ cover for not allowing marijuana for medical use; but that is not the true issue. The true issue is that there are a few people in government who feel it is their life’s calling to banish the horrible evil of marijuana, including for medical use, because of their ideological opposition to it that is not grounded in fact, and the forces that want it legalized, even for medical use, are not yet unified yet to make it happen on more than a state level. </p>

<p>Which one would think would be enough, except that the Supreme Court completely ignored common sense and Constitutional textualism in creating a ridiculous, wide-ranging interpretation of the Commerce Clause that allows the federal government to regulate even products that are not sold between states, on the pretext that the action of creating and selling a good in one state effects the market for goods in another state. Truly ridiculous.</p>

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<p>Remember kids, pot will cause MURDER!! INSANITY!! DEATH!! Especially when placed into the hands of BLACKS AND HISPANICS!!</p>

<p>After all, why do you think we wanted to replace the scientific name of cannabis with a Spanish name of marijuana? Because it sounds more frightening that way, and it just shows to remind you that if your privileged white kid ends up smoking pot, he will end up acting like a HISPANIC. Miscegenation, desegregation and playing of evil rap music will be sure to follow!!! </p>

<p><a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Killerdrug.jpg[/url]”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Killerdrug.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Aramin, you are a licensed medical user of pot. YOu have protection that kids who are using it recreationally do not. I don’t think your advise is good for kids in that situation. Weed may not DESTROY a teen’s life but I have seen it make some teens pretty miserable and really hurt the family, both financially and spiritually. Not a fun experience having to get a criminal attorney and go to court. A big problem to lose federal aid when you need the money for college. It can really hurt to lose that job too. Not to mention getting kicked out of high school. The kids I know who went to jail are not destroyed, but have paid dearly for their romp with pot, and have aged their parents terribly. To recommend parents to let their teen get involved with pot, given those risks is not responsible. I know as any parent who is familiar with college campuses, that use is rampant there, and kids will very likely use it. I think that its virtues will be extolled enough. It’s a parent’s job to give the other side of the story, since most kids will be calling mom/dad when they get in trouble with pot. Especially if jail is involved. </p>

<p>Because some medicinal value has been noted, pot should be legalized in my opinion on that basis and for those purposes. I cannot believe that smoking anything is going to be good for the lungs and respiratory system, but there are situation where I can see possibilities. Ingesting pot has not had the same effects as smoking it has. And smoking it brings up some dangers of lung infections. Fungal infections are feared among cancer patients because they can finish you off before the cancer does. With a low immune system, smoking anything is not advisable. For end stage pain, when it does not matter, is where I have seen pot most used. </p>

<p>Until marijuana is legalized, there are these risks. Everyone using pot should be well aware of them. And kids, why don’t you wait till you can take care of the consequences yourself? Why drag your parents into this, especially if they do not want that ride?</p>

<p>I would think since you can get pot medicinally, you don’t have to worry about contamination.</p>

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<p>momoney77,</p>

<p>I thought about this:</p>

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<p>As someone who has immediate family members who have had problems with both drugs and alcohol, I have to say that the experience with both is largely the same. Lying, irrational behavior punctuated by periods of relative calm and normalcy. They’re all the same to me once they’re abused.</p>

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<p>Because appeals to emotion make a very strong argument by themselves, yes?</p>

<p>The fact is, what we feel is irrelevant, since emotion is not pertinent to the debate. </p>

<p>If we look at the issue logically and rationally, first we find with libertarian and social contract principles that the cannabis ban has no grounds; secondly we find even with utilitarian principles that the cannabis ban is groundless – that is, the social utility that cannabis can give outweighs its detriments as long as its consumed in moderation. (Cannabis has a pertinent utility … compared to say, hard painkillers like morphine.) [Since the debate has been rehashed over and over again, I don’t think I need to elaborate.] </p>

<p>People can mess their lives up on a lot of things. It’s better than alcohol consumption, which creates wifebeaters. And the two substances when indulged in moderation has resulted in little incidents by students of my school. We’ve had no drunk driving accidents, and even though you wouldn’t believe the ignorance of the lower half of the class, no stupid accidents while high have occurred. (This is despite people reportedly taking tests while high and so forth.) This seems to point more to an issue of responsible use than a vice inherent in the substance. I shan’t rely on anecdotal evidence, of course, but if you compare drunk driving accident rates versus “stupid incident” rates for cannabis and alcohol, I would expect alcohol rates to be higher. And yet alcohol does not face a ban? </p>

<p>A lot of things can be abused to excess, be it food, the internet, exercise to the point of collapse (some people end up getting addicted to the “high” exercise brings). </p>

<p>The only difference between alcohol and pot (as well as tobacco and pot) is cultural acceptance, which has nothing to do with social utility or rights analysis.</p>

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<p>“As someone who has immediate family members who have had problems with both drugs and alcohol, I have to say that the experience with both is largely the same. Lying, irrational behavior punctuated by periods of relative calm and normalcy. They’re all the same to me once they’re abused.”</p>

<p>Then why legalize yet another substance that could potentially cause all of these issues and then some? Put it this way, aside from medicinal purposes, what good is going to come of it?</p>

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<p>Well I speak for fans of 60’s music when I say a lot of good has come from pot.</p>

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<p>Why legalise the internet? </p>

<p>We should totally ban new computer games.</p>

<p>I mean, can you imagine? What’s the use of a recreational activity that has potentially powerful effects? I mean, obviously everyone is an infant and no one knows how to manage their indulgences with moderation.</p>

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<p>I think parents who have had children or have children who went down a deadly, slippery slope starting with marijuana, drinking, smoking, etc would certainly have a different take on the subject than others. I say this because many, many advocate groups for actions are started on the momentum of a parent’s grief. There is nothing so painful as losing a child, something that those who are not parents cannot yet comprehend.</p>

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<p>Do you know that there are parents who smoke with their kids?</p>

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<p>Well I speak for fans of 60’s music when I say a lot of good has come from pot
and some of it you would have to * be high* to enjoy it.
;)</p>

<p>Do you know that there are parents who smoke with their kids?</p>

<p>…and there are people that rape nine year olds and people who sell their children into prostitution and those who sell their childrens prescribed medication to buy meth- what has that got to do with it?</p>

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<p>My, a lot of tangents. The original poster, an attorney, did not ask for a debate on legalization nor the medical benefits/faults of pot. He has already had that discussion with his wife, himself and possible others. He asked for advise for his HIGH SCHOOL kid:</p>

<p>PARENTS, PLEASE CONSIDER: </p>

<p>1) randomly check his room & any hiding place in YOUR home, backpack, car, etc. Start this concept at middle school so it won’t seem like the 3rd Reich in High School. </p>

<p>2) lock up the alcohol AND Prescription drugs - -today</p>

<p>3) watch your own consumption, you kids most certainly are . . . if you are drinking 2-4 glasses of wine a night, mostly out of habit, could or should you cut back? For your kids perception? (this was our routine. we woke up. she lost the weight she had been seeking for years.) </p>

<p>4) try to find a counselor that your kid will agree to see. it might take several attempts.</p>

<p>5) Try and convey that this is not purely a victim-less crime for your high school kids. It affects the rest of the siblings, parents, and their friends. There are family embarrassment/problems if they are caught by us, the school or the cops! (Do we tell other family members or close friends if we catch them? Or, do we try to keep this dirty little secrete to ourselves? Will our kids be shunned by family friends if they knew our kids used drugs? Would you let your kids associate with known drug users, including close family friends? etc.) AND, there is a real LOSS of TRUST between parent & child. That takes a long, long time and patience to overcome. But, the kids will have a hard time seeing all this because they are generally normal, self absorbed, “won’t get caught” thinking TEENAGERS. Perhaps reaching out to families in your neighborhood that have experienced the consequences of getting caught will help your child and you.</p>

<p>6) Start a PARENT-to-PARENT website for your school on the school website. This is a forum by which parents agree to be called, emailed, etc., if their kids are seen doing something illegal in their community. It’s up and working in our community after a 17 year old student died from alcohol & RX partying this past year. Fortunately, our state law now support this. The forum says:
"In light of tragic events related to abusing drugs and alcohol, a grassroots movement began. Parents got together to seek solutions. One of the first concepts was to create a forum by which parents could try and create a ‘village’ to better watch our kids. Not to spy or intrude unnecessarily, but to answer this simple but vexing question, “Should someone contact the parents(s) or guardians of a child they witness or strongly suspect doing something illegal or immoral”? This is not an easy question for a parent to answer, even if they are “best of friends”. The fear of a false alarm or potential harm to the family was voiced. And how would such an awkward conversation get started, “Hi, my name is_______<strong><em>and I just wanted to tell you that your kid did</em></strong>_____yesterday……Nonetheless, a prevailing refrain was heard at these meetings, “Yes, I want to know”.”
And then, you sign a release so your kids name and your contact information is posted.</p>

<p>This is tough situation for every household in every community. If there were easy answers, the post wouldn’t have started. </p>

<p>Good luck! I feel for you and every other parent struggling with this.</p>

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<p>“AND, there is a real LOSS of TRUST between parent & child. That takes a long, long time and patience to overcome.”</p>

<p>Probably the hardest thing to deal with is this.</p>

<p>Great post sdavis.</p>