Hi, I'm a little curious about how people here feel about underage people using marijuana. I started smoking mj when I was 12 and I don't think it had any adverse effect on me. Well, it probably affected my school work, but I loathed school and wouldn't likely have put much more effort into it even if I hadn't been smoking at all. I think I've seen some comments on this site somewhere where people said things like 'Of course, it should be illegal for minors.' and 'I wouldn't let my kids smoke until they are 18.', etc... I'm currently undecided on the issue, but am definitely leaning toward the 'it's ok for underage people to smoke pot' position. So, what do you think? Is pot basically harmless for younger people or is it something that they should be protectd from? What's your position on the matter and what are your reasons for taking that position? :angel4: :F-A-Q:
this ones a easy one hank if you have younger children. I have a 11 and 12 year old. This is a developement time in their lives and I would not want the distraction of useing mj to their lives till they are older. Teamster6
I use 16 as the age of when it is OK to start smoking. With that said, since everyone develops differently, and because some mental disorders don't manifest till later in life, I think it is a good thing if kids don't smoke till 18.
I would say it depends on the kid/family as far as neurotypicals (normal people) go. Having your 13 year old sitting around doing bong hits and eating bags of chips, etc. all day isn't really a good thing. That said, there are quite a few folks that report smoking since an early age that are way more successful (in the classic sense) than I am, and I didn't start until 17 and almost finished high school. It's more likely IMO that it's the culture that surrounds the illegal product that can be a detriment to kids. On the medical side, there are many kids that would be much better served by MJ than the crap doctors are currently shoving down their throats. ADD, ADHD, bipolar, and autism, etc. My daughter is 4 (autistic) and I would love to have a safe/legal tincture that I could give her to regulate her sleep cycles and assist with meltdowns. Instead, the medical establishment has offered klonopin, which often (in similar cases) is later followed by a nice regimen of adderal to wake the kid up and get the "focused" for school, etc. Then add in some antidepressants to try and smooth out their drug-addled brains. Because we all know it's better to get those youngins locked into a life of benzos and amphetemines, rather than use a natural product that doesn't have massive side effects. So I guess that puts me in the "for" category, as long as it's monitored by the parents and not causing issues.
I agree with that completely. I was thinking purely recreational use (though Hank didn't specify), but yes, I think children in many situations could benefit from marijuana. Edit: "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to TheFomorian again."
If you would have asked me a few years ago I wouldn't care either way. Now that I'm a little older I think we as MJ users should be a little more responsible about it. My ex came to me one day and wanted to know if she should inform and introduce her younger sister to it. She figured if she doesn't her friends will and would rather her get the facts from someone she knows and who cares about her. I was a little uneasy about it, I guess because I wasn't family or anything. I felt it was something her parents should talk to her about but I suppose a sister is close enough. She asked me to be there during and thats where my opinion on the subject come out and I had to say the nay no. I personally can't be apart of any delinquency of a minor. I don't need that shit in my life. My main problem with underage use is this, if we let kids use what are the big wigs gonna say? Oh these potheads just want everyone to get high even children. I think we as the MJ community have come too far to be so irresponsible when we are so close.
Send your 12 year old kid over and I'll twist one up for-em. Or maybe your 6 year old since the line is obviously going to be just as arbitrary. We use the 18 year old benchmark in the US because that has long been recognized as the age of majority. IMHO the 21 y/old drinking age is bullshit but a battle that needs to take a rear seat until the Prohibition war is won. Underage toking worked for you and many others, myself included, but I'm not about to openly allow my teen aged children the freedom to openly toke even though I do. I exercised poor judgement as a kid toking. It definitely affected my schoolwork in a negative manner. When they are adults and can responsibly choose their own lifestyle then it's up to them. I'll gladly roll a joint and shoot the shit. Until then, I want nothing interfering with clarity, direction and dedication to the best outcome possible. I put a ton of hard work and effort into them having the best shot possible in life and if it got sidetracked because they wanted to be stoned or drunk at their buddies instead of studying I'd be pissed. Anybody who is a recreational toker realizes the possible pitfalls if used immaturely, if they don't they're either or deluded. Why would we expect immature persons to use a mind altering substance maturely? Being a realist I understand it's likely these things happen with my approval or not. But I, as a parent, don't need to help make it more prevalent or easier. We've had the talk and the kids realize there will be no condemnation or consequence for calling if they are drunk or stoned or their friends are and they want to come home. One has even taken me up on it and I held true to my word. No questions. They also know my position on pot and that I grow. We've discussed that recreational MJ use is an adult decision and needs to wait until you're an adult.
RR you have it right!!! no to anyone ANYONE under 18 smoking it. brains do not physically finish developing til then or later. thc/smokables enhance the imbalance that causes schizopfrenia which usually doesnt show up til teen years or later. jail to those who supply underage kids with smoke
I'd a WHOLE lot rather have my kid smoke dope than drink alcohol, for sure. I started when I was 19. IF I had started earlier...I dont know. I hated school...maybe dope would have made it better, maybe not. I do think MJ has a side effect of making SOME people kinda lazy. I guess I would prefer my kid (if I had one) NOT smoke until out of school....but only because I wouldnt want it to get in the way of his/her pursuit of an education. But if the choice was a six pack or a joint? LIGHT IT UP, son! I think a bigger problem is, a kid whose parents smoke dope! Kids aint dumb. If they smell it, see glass pipes around, notice that sometimes mom and pop are giggling and stuffing ice cream...they KNOW. It puts them in a very awkward position. They know mom and dad smoke, they know it's illegal...so they're put in a position where they must choose to keep their parent's secret--or not. It's really kind of a lot to ask of a kid. it also makes it REAL hard to try to explain the dangers of "real" drugs and alcohol to the kid, without sounding like a total hypocrite. I HEARD my seven year old son say to his friend, "Wait til they're stoned, THEN ask if we can go. She'll say "yes" to anything, then." And I was CERTAIN he didnt know I smoked! What an idiot! Just my thoughts. Dixie
Fomorian- I get your point on Med use and agree wholeheartedly. MS suffers and other afflictions that show remarkable symptomatic improvement when treated with MMJ should be available to minors under adult care the same as any other prescriptive medication. If we don't recognize the medical benefits to everybody then we are only feeding the concept that MMJ is somehow different and more dangerous than standard prescriptive medications. My earlier response was speaking solely to recreational use of MJ. cheers,
I just thought of something funny. In the 80's, I taught school in St. Croix. There was another teacher at my school whose two kids were students there. The boy was named, "Lancelot". I often felt bad for him...but worse was the daughter's name: Mary Juana. Im not . That poor kid...having to go thru her entire life...wearing the name her mom gave her, a moniker straight from her own Hippy days. I dunno...it's just...do we have a right to make out kids our "partners in crime", so to speak? Frank Zappa named his kid Moon Unit, as I recall? And Gracie Slick named hers, "God"? It's just...for a kid to only have to say his name to reveal his parents were Freaks is a lot for a kid to bear, I would think. I guess it's just...being a kid is hard enough without adding the extra burden of the parents outside-the-norm lifestyle to the mix. Im just glad my mom didnt name me, "Prohibition" or "Bee's Knees" or "23 SAkidoo" Dixie
I walked that line Dix. Went from kids not knowing to kids knowing and discussing my growing (moved the garden away from the home), started seedlings for the remote grow and got popped, discussed security and legalities, starting new garden at home and will toke again as soon as the piss tests are lifted. They know first hand the legal issues that arise when you trust people who simply don't need to know. Not necessarily a bad lesson in life. My kids know all this and we've been open from the day they learned dad uses MJ. It's now no big deal to either of them. I will still not toke in front of them or be high when we're hanging out together. I don't leave shit around because that's simply unnecessary. I wouldn't leave a bottle of scotch on the kitchen counter, why would I leave a pipe or bag? I guess the only thing I lean on is being open after they come to a realization of what pot is and that you use it. The legalities, reasons and reality of WHAT it is. If that don't do it then I'm screwed.
God made it? To all the creationist god made it so how can it be bad? Unless you're evolutionist Then why did the aliens:alien11: put it here.:roffl:
I saw a documentary about it's effect on the growing brains. I believe they said around under 16 it will have a negative effect on developement. I don't remember the documentary name but it involved mice swimming in pools if anyone else saw it.... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090202175105.htm ScienceDaily (Feb. 3, 2009) — Adolescents and young adults who are heavy users of marijuana are more likely than non-users to have disrupted brain development, according to a new study. Pediatric researchers found abnormalities in areas of the brain that interconnect brain regions involved in memory, attention, decision-making, language and executive functioning skills. The findings are of particular concern because adolescence is a crucial period for brain development and maturation. The researchers caution that the study is preliminary and does not demonstrate that marijuana use causes the brain abnormalities. However, "Studies of normal brain development reveal critical areas of the brain that develop during late adolescence, and our study shows that heavy cannabis use is associated with damage in those brain regions," said study leader Manzar Ashtari, Ph.D., director of the Diffusion Image Analysis and Brain Morphometry Laboratory in the Radiology Department of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The study appeared early last month in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The current research builds on previous work by Ashtari and colleagues, who used the same imaging technology to analyze normal brain development in adolescent subjects. In the current study, working with child psychiatrist Sanjiv Kumra, M.D., now at the University of Minnesota, Ashtari and colleagues performed imaging studies on 14 young men from a residential drug treatment center in New York State, as well as 14 age-matched healthy controls. All the study subjects were males, with an average age of 19. The researchers performed the imaging studies at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. The 14 subjects from the drug treatment center all had a history of heavy cannabis use during adolescence. On average, they had smoked marijuana from age 13 till age 18 or 19, and reported smoking nearly 6 marijuana joints daily in the final year before they stopped using the drug. The study team performed a type of magnetic resonance imaging scan called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) that measures water movement through brain tissues. "The abnormal patterns of water diffusion that we found among the young men with histories of marijuana use suggest damage or an arrest in development of the myelin sheath that surrounds brain cells," said Ashtari. Myelin provides a coating around brain cells similar to insulation covering an electrical wire. If myelin does not function properly, signaling within the brain may be slower. Myelin gives its color to the white matter of the brain, and covers the nerve fibers that connect different brain regions. "Our results suggest that early-onset substance use may alter the development of white matter circuits, especially those connections among the frontal, parietal and temporal regions of the brain," said Ashtari. "Abnormal white matter development could slow information transfer in the brain and affect cognitive functions." Ashtari added that the findings are preliminary. Among other limitations of the study, such as a small sample size, five of the 14 subjects with heavy cannabis use also had a history of alcohol abuse, which may have contributed an effect. Also, it is possible that the brain abnormalities may have predisposed the subjects to drug dependence, rather than drug usage causing the brain abnormalities. "Further research should be done to investigate the relation between repeated marijuana use and white matter development," said Ashtari. "However, our work reinforces the idea that the adolescent brain may be especially vulnerable to risky behaviors such as substance abuse, because of crucial neural development that occurs during those years." The National Institute of Mental Health provided grant support for this research. Ashtari's and Kumra's co-authors were Kelly Cervellione, of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Jamaica, N.Y.; John Cottone, of Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, N.Y.; and Babak A. Ardekani, of The Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, N.Y. Serge Sevy of Zucker Hillside Hospital also contributed to the project. So I personally wouldn't want my kids to be smoking until they were 18+ b/c of that.
Propaganda made by the anti drug people Propaganda Funded by big pharmaceutical companies ANDbig tobacco.
I still wouldn't take the risk. I know kids who smoke real young and they do seem a little more stupid. But maybe it's just them!
Thanks for that Canna. Lion also mentioned possible problems with mental disorders. I wonder how much research there is to support that idea? Does cannabis really increase the possiblity of mental problems? Does it cause brain damage? Whether it's right or wrong, at least that study is based on some logical reasoning. That's a lot more compelling to me than reasons like claiming anyone under 18 can't make responsible decisions for themselves, minors are "immature", etc... All very vague and subjective things to judge. RR, sorry, but your argument is fallacious. 18 itself is an arbitrary age for adulthood. (Age of adulthood is 20 in Japan, btw.) Allowing your 16 year old child to smoke isn't the same as allowing your 12 year old child to smoke. Just like letting 16 year old children operate motor vehicles isn't the same as letting 12 year olds drive. (You have to be 18 to drive in Japan, btw.) Individual parents could best judge if their own children are responsible enough to have a bit of mj, imo, no matter what the legal age is. Formorian also mentioned tinctures. That's a good point, I think. The fact that it is usually smoked is a big negative in my opinion. I really would not like my kids to smoke anything. As we all know, smoking is very bad for one's health. I just imagine my kids asking me about it some day and, being honest with them, I can't see myself telling them it's bad and they shouldn't do it. I feel the same with alcohol, basically. Having a few beers at 16 isn't going to ruin anyone's life. Getting drunk every day is bad no matter who is doing it. It's a responsible use thing. If the kid is having a normal kid life then a joint every once in a while doesn't seem like a bad thing to me. I don't think heavy smoking every day is good for anyone, even Rasganja, and I don't think turning 18 is some magical moment when a person, in an instant, becomes mature mentally, emotionally, or otherwise. Having said that, I'm not disagreeing with anyone one way or the other. It's interesting to hear people's views on the matter. asssit:
Even though there are still people who think marijuana can cause mental disorders, most streamline psychologists will rather say that it causes the manifestation of some disorders earlier and/or makes the symptoms worse when they do appear. As for the age being arbitrary, that is true whether you think the age should be 8 or 80, and I think most of us agree to that. I choose 16 because of brain development. However, people mature differently and that is a guideline rather than a rule. I won't smoke with my daughter till she is legally of age, for obvious reasons, but like RR I will explain what drugs are all about and be there no matter if its for a ride or something worse.
