<p>^I think it’s more about moderation and some self-respect rather than what you ingest. </p>
<p>My HS BF was a year ahead of me when he went off to Brown. I visited him there when I went north to look at colleges. He and his friends (a mix of everything from jocks to pre-meds) had “wine and cheese” type parties–really just smallish gatherings of people sitting around discussing books, issues, and life in general. Thought it was terribly sophisticated and it was certainly not what I expected to find. (…and, I’m sure things were different in other circles.)</p>
<p>I had a good friend at my college who confessed to me during our senior week of graduation festivities that he had squandered his time there by smoking pot everyday. He was pre-med, initially, but his mediocre grades cost him that dream. I really felt awful for him. He was such a nice person. I think he just succumbed to peer pressure and it hurt him more than it did his other friends. He was lucky to have graduated at all, because after just one semester, several kids kind of just disappeared (–probably didn’t go to class and flunked out.) But, I also had another friend who didn’t fare too well due to excessive partying, but managed to save himself–he went back to school after graduating for another year to earn second degree, a BS and then went to med school and is very successful and happy today. </p>
<p>Sometimes there’s a learning curve for people–some “get it” sooner than others.</p>
<p>It would be nice if there were a simple way for parents and schools alike to help kids get it sooner rather than later.</p>