<p>CDC figures look like closer to 23% (roughly), broken down into sex, grade, state, length of use. Figures are self reported.</p>
<p>(We do know, or we think we know, it is protective against the physiological, pscyhological, and behavioral effects of MDMA, and may also be so in relation to other drugs.) #60mini</p>
<p>How could you know, and what do you mean you think you know? You either know or you don’t.</p>
<p>^How about that THC gene? Was that in the m&m report? It’s 148 pages, so I only skimmed. So far I can only find references regarding using a THC gene in other plants.</p>
<p>I really don’t see any point to debating the health effects of marijuana use here. It seems pretty clear that the OP doesn’t want her 10th grade son to use it. It’s an illegal drug, after all, regardless of the purported merits. The OP has asked for advice on how to deal with her son. He/she is not asking to be convinced about the merit of the drug’s use.</p>
<p>You’re serious? They can park and get out of the car, you know, and go elsewhere. They can also leave their phone with a friend for a few minutes, or turn it off, or the battery dies. If your kid wants not to be tracked by you for a period of time, he can do it. </p>
<p>The policing methods are helpful to a point but are not at all a substitute for helping your child assess the motivations for and results of various behaviors.</p>
<p>Absolutely I would send a struggling kid on a big trip – including to Europe. I would pay for the ticket and I would make sure he/she was with a friend or group of a high caliber, trustworthy sort (even though I know booze and pot is available). </p>
<p>Not only “Would I” , I did! Our S2 was struggling – not with pot but with the stresses of high school. We packed him off on a two week trip with a great history teacher and 20 teens. I didn’t know all the teens but I did like the teacher’s attitude of “here’s the boundaries on this trip and if you don’t follow them, you will instantly be on a return flight home at your parent’s expense.”</p>
<p>IT showed S2 that there is a lot bigger world that Small High School USA. He was excited by the trip and didn’t want to jeopardize it. He did well. </p>
<p>We are not wealthy but a long shot. This was a real stretch for us – but the self confidence Son brought home was impressive. And, after figuring out the Metro in Paris, the first week of college wasn’t too scary.</p>
<p>My only comment about Facebook is that the kid could have hundreds of “friends” that are simply kids that they go to school with so you get this stream of hallway chatter that your kiddo is exposed to every day at school. It doesn’t necessarily mean that’s who they are hanging out with. The best advice is to know who your kids are hanging out with and if possible have met the parents at least once. </p>
<p>Unless your kiddo has one foot in the grave from alcohol and drug abuse and your only recourse is to try and get them committed to an inpatient facility and I can’t even come up with an example where that is even necessary with a younger teen unless they are threatening you with a weapon, I think it’s wacked to call the police. The courts, jails and police are not there to be parent replacements or to abdicate.</p>
<p>It’s impossible to know where your kid is all the time,who they are with and what they are doing. I think parents who believe that are just fooling themselves. </p>
<p>And all teens lie - even if they don’t have to. </p>
<p>I certainly wouldn’t make finding out your kid has smoked some pot into a cause celebre. I’d simply talk to them about the consequences and ground them for a week or so.</p>
<p>If your kid wants to smoke pot, he will.
If your kid wants to drink, he will.
The cold, hard reality is that these are available to high school students, and a lot of the people that he knows will do it.
Hopefully your kid just didn’t like pot. That is the only real reason for a high school kid not to do it. Although I don’t do it myself, s a high school student, I know many people who smoke pot. It is synonymous with drinking, and as you know all of this is very prevalent in the high school culture. Just let him find out for himself that its a complete waste of time and money.</p>
<p>I’m a current college junior, so high school isn’t too distant from my life yet… First of all, good for you for caring so much about his future/what’s going on in his life, I totally respect that…but from a younger perspective, here are just a few of my thoughts (which are obviously just opinions,and are to be taken as such)</p>
<ol>
<li>PLEASE do not go hacking into his social media accounts/ask for the password…I think it would greatly make him feel alienated. I know if my parents asked for that, I would just simply warn my friends, or delete my profile. </li>
<li>It is true what people said about it being a personal choice, not so much peer pressure. He obviously wanted to experiment/do so on his own will, so you can chance out the factor of friends for the most part. There is a small chance, but its very rare that it’s just the group of friends.</li>
<li>I wouldn’t believe that he is just going to stop, because he said he would, and I would continue to try and look out for any signs.</li>
<li>Where is he getting the money to smoke from? That’s another issue I foresee… does he work or do you give him spending money? You could easily control that if you are the one giving him his money…</li>
</ol>
<p>I’ve never touched it in my life, any form of drugs have never appealed to me, but I did drink in high school. A separate piece of advice is that try to have as open as a dialogue you can, and let him know that he can call you to pick him up need be without consequences. I know that would be hard, because you would be so upset/angry if that ever came to be, but think about the safety factor. My dad always had that option open, and I used it once. I watched so many people drive drunk/high/rush home for curfew because they were scared what their parents would do otherwise…you can only try hiding so many sets of keys as a student yourself. </p>
<p>I’m not saying this disrespectfully, but it seems like some parents in this thread are very naive as to how much actually goes on within the drinking/drug scene in high school. I was a very small minority out of everyone I knew (and I knew a lot of people) who didn’t smoke pot…and not just bragging about it, visibly watching them do so. I was an honors student, lived in a well to do small town, where our school was considered “good”. You would be considered the minority not to party/experiment…as soon as you hit 14 or so. I have a younger sister who is 13 so its crazy for me to think about now in that way, but I’m just saying…a LOT more out there then you’d think.</p>
<p>“We do know, or we think we know, it is protective against the physiological, pscyhological, and behavioral effects of MDMA, and may also be so in relation to other drugs.)”</p>
<p>“How could you know, and what do you mean you think you know? You either know or you don’t.”</p>
<p>NIH has published a study to that effect. But it is a very new area of research. </p>
<p>Let me be clear: I am not defending the use of marijuana, even where the health effects are equivocal (and there clearly are some for chronic users). The biggest consequences are social, which doesn’t mean they are not real, and unimportant. We treat an awful lot of people for marijuana abuse and dependence, and it does mess up a lot of lives. Doesn’t kill anybody (unlike tanning beds), but that’s hardly an endorsement. Most people who have used it (69% of the population age 30) don’t ever have a problem from it. And some people definitely do.</p>
<p>maybe we could microchip them like we do our pets??? (just kidding!!)
I think alot of the parents do realize what is going on out there and that is why we are so involved and impose boundries…high school children do not have the maturity to deal with many of the situations they find themselves in after making poor choices…
I have to admit I am another supporter of having your childs FB password and checking it randomly…especially the message box…it was a requirement of having a FB page/computer priviledges at our house…</p>
<p>Ummkay… and so when he tells you they are going to Johnny’s house and then you watch your gps and see they went to Billy’s house too for half an hour, what are you going to do, hint around hoping he fesses up? How long until you burst out with your accusation and your news that you have a secret GPS installed in the car? [You don’t actually have a teenager am I right?]</p>
<p>stop giving him $$$. are you ■■■■■■■■? If he has a job make sure his check is direct deposited to your accounts. I’m a junior, never used pot/acohol/anything recreational in my life and never will. Simple reasons 1. my parents give me no $$$ 2. I have no social life/friends 3. I don’t want any adverse health effects.</p>
<p>Most of the cell phone providers have locator services. We have them on all of our phones, and it has been very useful for a number of things, including finding misplaced phones and responding to calls from lost teenagers who request to be “located” so that we can give them directions. </p>
<p>But, it also keeps our kids honest about where they are going. Sure, they can leave their phone one place and go someplace else, but then they won’t have their phones with them which is a teen’s lifeline. We also make it a requirement that they always immediately answer our calls (we hardly ever call them while they are out). </p>
<p>As others have said, all teenagers lie. They just do. And, most of the time, it isn’t a big deal. But when it comes to teenage drug and alcohol use, it can be a big deal. It frequently leads to driving under the influence. (They deny that they drink and drive or drive under the influence, but they do.) It also leads to poor judgment and dangerous decision making. </p>
<p>I know that the teenagers and college students on this board think that the parents here are crazy and are being hyper-vigilant, but all I can say to you is wait until you have children whom you love very much. You don’t believe it now but you will do what you can to prevent them from using drugs and to delay them from drinking until they are older. You’ll do it because you love them and want to keep them safe, not because you want to prevent them from having fun with their friends.</p>
<p>And, btw, my teens are very social, have lots of friends, and surely go to parties where others are drinking and using marijuana. They know that we are looking over their shoulders every minute to be sure that they don’t. Yet, we have a great relationship and they understand the reason for our vigilance. It’s just our job as parents.</p>
<p>^ Nice! And I’d like to add this; Folks, young and old, often say our kids are lying; that we don’t REALY know our kids, and we should trust strangers on a message board for “the truth”, over our “instincts”. Why?</p>
<p>I’m assuming a parents instincts are hopefully a result of decades or more of an interactive relationship. Boggles my mind to think that folks can post on this thread and think there is a single “truth”.</p>