…Which substance would you prefer your son/daughter to ingest?
My parents are both against marijuana but are perfectly okay with smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. I find it really ironic because marijuana is neither addicting nor anywhere as harmful to the body as alcohol (especially if you vaporize the pot or make edibles), and the degree of impairment (even at high doses) is pretty low. It’s so easy to get violent when you’re drunk, say things you don’t mean, or even fall over and potentially harm your body.
It’s a toughie since there seems to be a controversy over whether marijuana use among adolescents lowers adult IQ. Can’t they just skip right to the unprotected sex?
I’m in Colorado, both those are legal here- but only for people 21 and up.
A minor is committing the same criminal act either way, and I’d strongly discourage lawbreaking.
Or getting caught, at least.
And personally, I find excessive caffeine consumption in young people to be a problem.
Too many energy drinks, too much soda and cappuccino. That’s part of why none of them can pay attention for two minutes.
I would prefer that a minor not do either. But given that I started smoking pot when I was 16, and in my experience it is light years less dangerous and harmful, I’d rather my kid smoked pot.
Ooh, that’s a hard one. For anyone over the age of 25 or so, I’d say marijuana, as it’s decidedly less hard on the body. But for adolescents and early 20’s, there’s some rather compelling evidence that marijuana may, in susceptible individuals, trigger schizophrenia. But then even more recent research is suggesting thatanother compound in marijuana may actually prevent psychotic symptoms, which might prevent or delay schizophrenia from appearing. So I just don’t think I’m comfortable suggesting marijuana for minors until the scientists sort all that out. For that reason, I guess I’d rather the kid drink (and then switch to marijuana when he’s older), although of course I’d rather he do neither.
I would strongly discourage my kids from smoking anything. Much rather they use edibles or vaporizers should they decide to get high (though, as noted above, it’s illegal under 21, even here in Boulder).
Also, my kids have grown up having small sips of wine with Shabbat and holiday dinners (pretty much every Friday night since they were old enough to be past sippy-cups). We also let them taste other drinks if we are at home (never at a restaurant). We’re a 2-4 drink/week (and not all at one sitting) kind of family, so they have good role models for moderate use, and I’m fine if they follow in our footsteps.
Cigarettes are anathema in my family, but drinking alcohol is pretty common and some relatives drink a lot. Nobody smokes, and I mean nobody. I think some of us would be open to legalizing MJ for adults only, but I don’t know how many people would become open users of it.
That was my thinking as well- it’s a lot easier to shift sideways into tobacco from pot than it is to pick up the habit/ability or whatever of smoking things. The motions are there, the physiological ability to inhale smoke’s there, the paraphernalia is there if they smoke pot, so I imagine tobacco’s not too much of a stretch. They already drink non alcoholic stuff, so that horse has left the barn.
So basically the idea would be to make it harder to smoke tobacco, because they’re going to do one or the other of pot or alcohol in all likelihood. Plus, I can model responsible alcohol use, while I can’t really do that for pot, not being a smoker of any kind.
Completely agree. I know my kid will almost certainly try both, and probably underage (they’re both legal here at 21). I hope she never tries cigarettes at all. I never have and she knows exactly what I’ve ever used (alcohol and weed yes, everything else no).
I wouldn’t be okay with her using either to excess of course, but of the two, I’d definitely prefer weed.
Well there is decent evidence that alcohol consumption at the “small glass of red wine a day” level has health benefits whereas I don’t think the same can be said of moderate pot use, and certainly not for cigarettes.
That being the case, I go with that order. Alcohol, pot, tobacco.
That’s true. Pot might be effective for treating some conditions, but it’s not a preventative for anything.
Tobacco does have some beneficial side effects but the bad outweighs the good.
Bowel regulation and weight control are probably the most common mentioned.
Correlation != causation. Think of the dumb potheads you knew in high school. Think they’d’ve been Rhodes scholars if they didn’t discover the damnable weed?
The important question is: do you have a family history of schizophrenia? If so, proceed with caution. Ecstasy fans talk about how it’s amazing and has no side effects, but I would not recommend that one with a family history of panic disorder.
I would prefer moderation, absolutely, whichever it was. I have my preferences for myself, but there’s a big area between teetotaling on one hand and cirrhosis/being a stereotype on the other (not sure which is worse).
One thought: there are few clear cut ways to measure BAC of alcohol. Not any to my knowledge for marijuana. There are lots of people who wrongly drive drunk, but they at least know the risks. I get the impression that most smokers are assuming no impairment.
^^^ Colorado is implementing tests for ‘active THC’ in drivers, a somewhat different process than ‘urinalysis’ which tests for metabolic residues.
Apparently it will be possible to accurately measure drug levels in drivers who are in accidents.
How that corresponds to impairment is a whole other question.
No, but I have a very small family, so I’m not convinced there’s enough of us to really use that as an indicator. I’m an only (biological) child, my mother and father each have one sibling, their parents were onlies or one of two, and noone knows about anyone before that. So I only know how less than a dozen of us turned out with these genes.
Something I think current medical history based risk assessment doesn’t adequately address, actually. But I’ll take my soapbox and save it for a more appropriate thread.
I have no problem with marijuana, but I do have a problem with its usage by minors.
Not only is there evidence that suggests that use of marijuana during formative years impacts mental development, but I also know it to be a unique and impactful drug. Using it at a young age is, at best, going to serve as a distraction from work and school. At worst I think it negatively impacts personal development.
