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Granny's Advice By Rosaleen Dickson, BA, MJ
- Dear Great Granny.
-
Here's the scoop! It is driving me nuts. I have two sons, 17 and 12, but this is about the elder one.
I will cut to the chase. About a year ago, he discovered marijuana. It is a bone of contention in our
household as my husband and I do not condone his smoking. Nonetheless, as all 17 yr. olds, he does it
elsewhere.
He is a good kid, attested to by his high school teachers. He is currently in Grade 12 and gets good grades. However, he is always spouting off to me about the merits of marijuana, I think hoping to change my
attitute on the weed. We argue alot.
He is nearing the completion of high school and our family is nearing a move to another Province. My son refuses to come with us. Fine but on the other hand he is not financially sound to stay behind.
Am I worrying for nothing? I know we have taught him everything we possibly can about right and wrong. However, I hate this dirty little thing called "gettin high". It perhaps wouldn't seem so dirty to me if
he wasn't caught once high on Acid after promising never, ever to touch the stuff.
Should I let him learn the hard way and will he outgrow it? Who knows.
- Dear friend
-
I don't know why you are arguing with your son about whether marijuana is good or bad. It's illegal, and
that's all that matters right now. If he is breaking the law because he thinks, as you do, that all 17 year
olds are smoking.
The fact is that all 17 year olds are not smoking. Only about one in four teenagers are smoking, and of
those most of them are killing themselves with tobacco rather than marijuana. Most teenagers do not
smoke anything.
When your son thinks he is smoking because of "peer pressure" he is just choosing the wrong peers to
follow. If he looked around a bit he would find that the world, and his province, is full of sensible youngsters
who do now smoke, anything.
He will either outgrow it or let it ruin his life, but I'm not sure what you can do about it in the meantime. You've raised him to use his fundamental intelligence so I think he will stop getting high very soon, and with a little
bit of luck he'll quit smoking altogether. The more beautiful life becomes, the more interesting it is to stay
alive to enjoy it.
He thinks he is old enough to leave home at 17, so I hope you can make him realize that it implies that
he will take care of himself because nobody else will be there to do that any more. My best advice is for you
not to lost close contact with him. Even if he wants to live outside your home, keep in touch with email, phone, and visits. Don't preach to him, just take an interest in everything he is doing, and keep him in touch with what you are doing. Consider him to always be an integral member of the family no matter how far away he may live.
Good luck.
GG
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