This is going to be a contentious post. Read at your own peril.
Last weekend, one of my children (we will call the person child in this post) told me that there is a party the child wants to attend and there will be weed and alcohol. I was asked if I was ok with the child smoking weed?
This was in contrast to a friend who came to me a year ago to ask for advice as she found weed in her son’s room. She freaked out, screamed and yelled at the child, punished him, then went to the priest and made her son confess to the priest. The atmosphere at home was unbearable and her son was no longer talking to her. But she was not interested in fixing that, all she wanted to know from me (because I am medically qualified) was how to find out if her son was still smoking weed?
There was much I wanted to tell her, but I knew she was not going to listen to me. So I told her what she wanted to hear. You can do a saliva test(drug alert kit), which will show positive in the first 24 hours.
So, weed.. also known as Marijuana.. it has been around since time immemorial. Plenty are people who smoked weed.
The first question that needs to be asked is why kids want to smoke weed?
Children often want to take drugs for the curiosity factor. How does it feel to be high?
Sometimes, it is out of boredom,
Sometimes it is out of parental neglect and wanting to teach the parents a lesson. (hurt the people who hurt you, even it at the expense of self harm)
Sometimes it is because they have reached the end of their tethers and need something that will help them face another day.
The second question is the safety
Medically, there are two hypothesis.
1.Weed is known to cause psychotic symptoms in a healthy child who wouldn’t otherwise have it if the child didn’t smoke weed.
2. Weed may precipitate psychosis in children who are predisposed to acquiring psychosis related disorders.
So, much as weed is considered a safe drug(as compared to the rest of the hallucinogens), it still comes with a lot of risk.
Legally
Weed is illegal in most countries. THC metabolism is a bit tricky as it is hydrophobic and tend to stay around in your cells for a while, it can stay on your saliva for 24 hours and your blood for a week. So no driving for minimum 24 hours after smoking weed. Besides, one should never drink/take drugs and drive. That is a big No.
Quality
There are good weed, bad weed, really bad weed. You should read about how to judge the quality of your weed.
Future
What is your plan? Once you have learned how it feels to be high, are you planning to smoke regularly? Can you afford it? Will it affect your job prospects(most companies now do random drug tests)
How did I deal with it?
First of all, my child didn’t have to tell me or ask my permission. I wouldn’t have known if the said child smoked weed if they didn’t tell me. So, it is a good thing that the child and I share a relationship where we can talk about things like this very open.
I discussed with the child all of what I wrote above.
And said yes.