A 17-year-old kid called the cops on his father for growing marijuana in their garage.
It takes some balls to do that, knowing that this kid could possibly be alienated by the rest of his father’s family, or that he could suffer the consequences brought forth by local potheads who think “narcs” are scum. (in my pot-smoking days, the general rule was, No matter how much you disliked someone, that was one line you didn’t cross.)
So what about it, Dopers? (hehehe - “dopers”) What would you have done? Have you ever been in a situation like this?
Back when I was 17, if I had found out my dad was growing or selling pot, I would have been the happiest little Earthworm in the world. But that was five years ago, and I no longer live that lifestyle. If I were to find out something like that today, I don’t know what I would do, but I highly doubt I would call the cops on him. But that’s just me…
A lot of kids don’t understand exactly what they are doing. The Police show up, and the cuffs go on, and reality sets in. “I didn’t think they were going to take him away, just talk to him…”
But, Mommy and Daddy might want to be a little more circumspect about illegal activity in front of the little monsters. Serves em’ right, and in (hopefully most) cases should probably help out in the long run.
I bet the kid knew exactly what he was doing. But, then again, I’m cynical.
I wouldn’t have turned my folks in for something like that. Not out of any great love for my dad, but rather because I don’t think that growing marijuana is morally wrong, and thus inconveniencing myself in order to stop it isn’t worth the effort. That’s just me, though.
This kid obviously lives in a different world than I.
At 17 my brother and I were growing our own.
Still, if the story is true, good on him for standing up for his beliefs. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re not hearing the full story and there were other problems and he didn’t want to live with Dad anymore.
Somehow, I just have the sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t a matter of the kid wrestling with complex moral issues, but just that he was pissed at Dad for not letting him borrow the car.
I’d probably rat my dad out for murder, rape, and perhaps one or two other crimes, but no matter how pissed off I might get at him (and believe me, my father and I are good at getting pissed off at each other), I would never get him busted for drugs.
Dad, if you’re reading this, the secret of your little experiment with hydroponics is safe with me.
Really, that kid just needs the living hell beat out of him. Twice.
I just read the article–I know, I shoulda done that before I posted. WTF??? I can’t believe that’s a plea to get the kid help with college. Jesus Christ . . . :rolleyes:
Somebody’s not getting a Christmas present this year.
I’m sure his Dad is just thrilled with having a criminal record and the possibility of doing time and losing his job and house because he grew a couple of plants…
To quote Homer Simpson " I hope the stories of what goes on in prison are exagerrated".
I suspect that there was more going on here than just the pot issue. At 17, he should have been able to tell the dad, either the pot and the weapons go by x-date or I am calling the cops - Call my cynical too, but I think there is more to this than just the weed and weapondry.
jmpride62 - i agree with you. there’s definitely something more going on around here. i don’t think it’s just a pot issue; the kid probably saw this as a way of teaching his dad a lesson. you guess the details, but from the story i don’t get the idea that this guy was an attentive father…10 to 1 that pot is not the main issue in this kid’s motives.
I don’t know if anyone else saw it, but the story kinda reminds of that “Smalltown Ectasy” documentary (or some simlar title) that was on HBO a few weeks back. I can sympathize with the 17 year old because it sounds like dad may have problems. It was his SECOND drug felony, but I still think if the guy was trying to help his family (there were younger siblings) he should have gone to some other adult he trusted or tried some other way of intervening. On the other hand, he might have tried everything and nothing was changing. We’ll probably never get the whole story, but calling 911 certainly killed dad’s buzz for that evening.
:mad:
That was only a few blocks from where I live. Neighbors that know the family say they are extremely disfunctional. His mother is known as the one legged lady. She stands by the side of the road looking lost. She does it just to borrow cigarettes from motorists that stop. The kid turned in his father because his father would not let him go out with some friends. I avoid the street they live on.
Call me crazy, but I think the kid’s motivation is extremely important in determining whether he acted with “courage.” If it turns out this was simply a domestic dispute in which he decided to punish his father for some slight, the motivation for revenge detracts from his current hero status. There also seems to be some misinformation going on about the loaded guns (I’ve read they were locked in a safe) and whether the father was a dealer or strictly a recreational, medicinal user. Understandable, considering the mainstream media’s demonization of drugs and drug users.
What I find so sad about this story is the fact that the father was also a single parent of two younger children. Not enough media attention is being focused on their situation.
Here is an interesting interpretation of this story from The Stranger: Dope
Wow, I am appalled, yea, appalled at the Seattle P-I’s editorial. To me, family loyalty is a higher value than the law. I would not turn in a parent for committing murder.*
To say the kid did the right thing, as the cop in the editorial did, seems to suggest growing marijuana is such a serious crime that preventing/stopping it justifies destroying one’s own entire family. Wow, that’s one serious crime. I think the cop holds being marijuana-free to be perhaps a higher good than it is, and evidently the P-I editorial board does too. That kid deserves to be publicly shamed, not publicly funded.
*of course I would call the cops to prevent a murder, and if my parent had committed murder I would advise self-incrimination. But I would not be the one to betray a family member to The System, regardless of the crime they had committed.
I’m so fedup with my father, hes growing 20 plants .
Works 3 days out of the week. and is a lazy drunk.
atleast a few times out of the week, he’ll find something that isnt even horriable and just goes balistic. I have to put with with watching my annoying grandmother and even when she pissed him off he finds something else and then proceeds on me.
He is so controlling and thinks he can push me and my 74 year old grandmother around. The only reason i wont fight him is because hes been in prison and jail for whiles at a time. and a little bigger than me.
He expects so much from me tho ive had noone to help me, him and my mother were seperated when i was 5 and ive lived with my mom while he was in and out of jail.My mom got tired of me so im living with him, he thinks since i live with him he can put his hands on me and try to hit me. None of you people know every ones life storys…
im going to be calling the cops on my dad soon.
& most of all no teenager like myself needs to be living in a trap house. filled with bugs. Im so tired of this lifestyle , its gross and not my habitat.
Alot of my neighbors know about it and im not going to jail for something i didnt do or that isnt my choice.