Well, I do have a functioning brain cell or two myself, and my brain has been pretty much soaked in a variety of recreational drugs. But I believe the reason I have survived pretty much intact is that I did not dabble in such until I was just out of my teens.
Are you making the argument that if marijuana were totally decriminalized, teenagers would not seek it out with such gusto? Aren't all of the decriminalization proposals only for adults, anyway? I am not sure it would make much difference at all for teenagers.
I hope my teen chooses not to experiment at all, with alcohol or drugs or cigarettes. My theory on this is that the older children are, the more intelligent their choices are, and the more self-control they have when they dabble. I think young teenagers are more likely to experience real damage from contraband substances, because they are less mature in every way.
Of course, after my dear darling daughter leaves home, I suspect that my husband and I will have enough arthritis to justify the medicinal use of marijuana. Then we will sit around listening to music, looking into each other's aging eyes and being very, very honest (it is almost impossible to lie while stoned, at least for us), and drinking berry wine and renting mucho videos until our joints are feeling quite happy and light, thank you.
I do think that it is impossible to teach children good habits about drugs without being a good example, so this decadence is all just a dream for the future. The teenagers I know whose parents (usually fathers) continued to smoke marijuana after they had children, all started smoking marijuana themselves at twelve or thirteen, and this turn of events did not surprise me at all. |
