I'm responding to this with a headache and about to got to bed. I'll just say that to me a 16 yo is a minor adult and has to start shouldering some adult responsibilities.

That statement is not meant as any judgement of the trouble he is finding himself in, where I believe he needs all the support he can get, but just as a general statement about 16 year olds - I know Americans tend to think of anyone under 21 as still in the childhood stages of life, and as I'm from the UK have a different take on it.

bodgy

Raising children is not getting any easier. With both parents working -- a financial necessity for many families -- children are exposed to more influences from outside the family. It is even more difficult for a working, single parent to raise children. As stay-at-home moms become rarer, the kids get more of their upbringing from their peers and less from their parents. When kids are at loose ends with other kids, their selection of friends is critical. If the friends have similar family situations, mischief or worse is more likely.

I hope things work out for P. A second marijuana charge is not good. He needs a good attorney who can get him a pretrial diversion that leaves him with no criminal record if he avoids further infractions.

Hope you get over the cold soon, Dom. Poor baby!

Hey Dom

I don’t know all the surrounding circumstances but, I thought we had laws about illegal search and seizure, I guess since 9/11 and the ‘Patriot Act’ all bet’s are off. I hope everything works out for your friend and his mom.

I'll just say that to me a 16 yo is a minor adult and has to start shouldering some adult responsibilities.

 

bodgy

I agree, but teens aren't noted for there ability for good judgement.

Later

I'm Coming

A second marijuana charge is not good.

Make that 3RD charge now. ugh!

sleep now, kill the boy later.

Hard drugs are no damned good. Crystal, Coke and the like destroy lives and hungry junkies create serious crime problems.

That being said, Pot isn't in the same league. Sure- some people smoke too much of it but it isn't as harmful as alcohol. OD on Pot and you go to sleep. You are a danger only to junk food and are too mellow to be fuss or fight. The worst thing about Pot is that it exposes kids to the real criminals- cops, dealers and the games that they both play.

The sad truth is that the money in drugs has corupted way too many cops. In many places, small towns and rural counties in particular, they run the drug business. They decide who can deal, who can't and they profit from it. They also have a bunch of "useful idiots" that they bust to keep up appearences- people who get sloppy, know too much or can't come up with the cash.

Don't panic!

A lot of teens go through a "Pot Phase". It doesn't really make them junkies. Unless they have underlying issues, the vast majority of them quit on their own because it is boring and a lot more trouble than its worth.

A kid in trouble with Pot needs to sit down with a shrink. Kids that DO have underlying problems like PTSD, ADD/ADHD, bipolar disorder, family problems, abuse, etc are very much at risk of graduating from Pot to something that really is harmful and dangerous.

Most REAL addicts start out by doing what is called "Self-medicating". They have some problem and they discover that drugs make them feel better. You see this a lot with kids with ADHD smoking Pot: it mellows them out and they get along better with parents and peers. It works the same way with PTSD, bipolar disorder, etc. The drug makes the symptoms better so they need the drug to "feel normal".

Makes addiction sound more like a mental health issue than something you need to declare war on doesn't it?

JS

A second marijuana charge is not good.

 

Make that 3RD charge now. ugh!

 

sleep now, kill the boy later.

Perhaps marijuana really does affect your ability to reason.