Little sister beginning to step away from ''the right (drugs)'' path.

[Deleted]

Weed is a soft drug, it's not a hard drug with serious side effects like say... cocaine or amp. She will try various things out, and because of the social stigmata with drugs not *approved by the government* your doubting her character.

If she becomes addicted (I've never heard of people addicted purely to the drug itself, but the phys associated with it) and steals ect THEN you intervene...

I just think your worried about the legal aspects and attempting to be a brother, shes growing up and will rebuff any efforts to control her life. You can advise her however, but going to her parents will make her hate you and might even make the problem much worse.

[Arainie]

Most people use drugs, and the epidemic of prescription drug abuse proves your point terribly false.

Don't make a fool of yourself. There's a huge difference between the use and abuse of a drug. Most drugs have positive and negative sides, and sometimes using them for the positive effects might outweigh the negative effects when it comes to medical use. I never said all weed users are drug abusers.

IQ is a worthless gauge of nothing, and nobody takes it seriously. That second study makes no mention of the amount of marijuana used. If someone gets thrashed on alcohol every day, they will be in way worse shape than minor cognitive decline.

You keep putting words in my mouth. IQ and intelligence are not the same things, IQ is simply a means to try and estimate intelligence. Once again, I never compared heavy cannabis use to heavy alcohol consumption. I compared regular or even mild cannabis use to the amount of alcohol that our bodies can actually take care of. The difference is that our bodies suffer long term (sometimes permanent) effects by the first time we smoke any sort of cannabis, while our livers can handle a certain amount of alcohol even at young age.

If you had even bothered to read the sources, the article in the first source actually mentions that the study is performed by the organization that the second source links to. As in, they are the same source, but as the research article requires a subscription I figured that I'd link to the news article as well.

[Rhiziana]

SMOKING POT IS ILLEGAL. What do you mean there is nothing wrong with it? There is ALWAYS something wrong with breaking the law EXCEPT where there is a moral imperative to break the law. What moral imperative is at operation here that justifies your use of pot?

Please excuse me if i missed in the OP where is said he lived, its legal in Colorado and The Netherlands

[Shadowsz]

Sadly this is apart of growing up. Nothing you can really do.

drugs are part of growing up in the U.S?

[Deleted]

Drugs shouldn't be encouraged, end of. If you want to do drugs, that's fine, but the behavior shouldn't be encouraged, and that applies to alcohol too.

[breadisfunny]

Illegal depending where you are in the world. There's a reason for that, the laws are stupid and anyone with a shred of sense knows that.

i agree not being allowed to randomly rob banks is stupid.

[Yosef1015]

sounds like shes going to smoke weed or cigs, id be a lot more worried about the latter

[Kasierith]

Because harmless or not...gateway drug or not...unless you live in certain countries and/or have a medical certificate (and even that in some places doesn't help) it IS still illegal - and in many countries is a serious offence. Going through life is already difficult enough. Why add the stigma of criminal convictions on top of it!

That is an extrinsic factor, not directly related to the nature of any drug.

[Eliandal]

That is an extrinsic factor, not directly related to the nature of any drug.

Neither here nor there! The 'nature' of the drug doesn't matter. Its' legality does. However it IS a point to bring up to his sister (and no, not in a 'preaching' tone) If the drug is illegal where she lives, then she runs the risk of ruining her life before it even starts.

[Deleted]

he can't explain, he's just another tool voicing his illogical opinion in hopes that one of his own kin will back him up with their nonsense ideology... most people like them are either trolling or just grew up completely sheltered from the truth... in their brains, it's perfectly acceptable for alcohol to be consumed in public, but anything labeled as a drug is different towards him. It's funny, people like them will look at a prescription drug and think it's fine, but when you say that's a drug, they get all offended and plead their case of how drugs are only weed, cocaine, heroin etc. It's better to not even indulge in conversations with their type, for you'll suffer from such a severe headache... due to all the bullcrap that they'll spew your way.

Other extremity being all drugs are fine game? I don't think that's very smart either.

Perhaps weed isn't THAT bad, but where do you draw the line? Is cocaine good as well? It increases concentration so it could be used in the military.

It's quite a grey area to be honest.

---------- Post added 2012-12-31 at 01:17 AM ----------

sounds like shes going to smoke weed or cigs, id be a lot more worried about the latter

Why? I've seen a girl go completely crazy on weed to the point that she needed professional help. She's not allowed to work anymore for the time being because she isn't stable anymore.

This doesn't happen with normal cigarettes. Although I guess you happen to fancy lungs more than a good brain?

[Arlon]

Weed, really? Will you be just as concerned about cigarettes and alcohol usage?

People should educate themselves about theese things before coming to the forums asking for advice.

[Kasierith]

Neither here nor there! The 'nature' of the drug doesn't matter. Its' legality does. However it IS a point to bring up to his sister (and no, not in a 'preaching' tone) If the drug is illegal where she lives, then she runs the risk of ruining her life before it even starts.

Laws are malleable; I wouldn't be surprised if each election cycle brings more and more states who decriminalize it. The nature, however, is constant, and therefore should remain the primary focus on whether or not taking a drug is the right thing for an individual to do.

[Fugus]

Getting protective over weed and not cigarettes or alcohol is about like watching a parent be just fine when their kids go out mountain climbing on 1200 foot tall rock faces but then get protective if they go out to play miniature golf.

[Destruktion]

the only really bad effect of weed if you're addicted is when you're a teenager smoking everyday

if you're old enough the "bad" effects of it disappear after few months

I was a habitual weed smoker when I was a teenager and it was fine (somewhat; I incurred psychological problems as a result). But now that I'm older I can't smoke weed even once without incurring significant negative effects and diminishing returns. YMMV I suppose.

Greasy food is, look at obesity rates.

You eat greasy food once and nothing significant happens to you. You smoke weed once and BAM, you're intoxicated and (possibly) disabled.

[mistuhbull]

I have known many teenagers who started with weed and loved getting high . Then when the oppertunity came along they moved onto the next best high ...does not happen to all but ask ANY hard drug user what they started with and you will get 100% across the board they started smoking weed with friends in junior/high school ....btw used to be a Drug and Alcohol counselor.

Ask any alcoholic, I bet you 100% of them started drinking water

[Deleted]

Ask any alcoholic, I bet you 100% of them started drinking water

Well you'd lose that bet as asinine as you're being. The majority of people start drinking with milk.

[Sunseeker]

Because harmless or not...gateway drug or not...unless you live in certain countries and/or have a medical certificate (and even that in some places doesn't help) it IS still illegal - and in many countries is a serious offence. Going through life is already difficult enough. Why add the stigma of criminal convictions on top of it!

But "it's illegal so we shouldn't do it" isn't a very good thing. Lots of things have been illegal in past for little to no real good reason, and often by doing them have we eased away the stigma of it being bad.

[Garnier Fructis]

Getting protective over weed and not cigarettes or alcohol is about like watching a parent be just fine when their kids go out mountain climbing on 1200 foot tall rock faces but then get protective if they go out to play miniature golf.

Personally I don't think we do enough about cigarettes. You should not be allowed to smoke them in places like crosswalks. I mean, middle of the street is fine because I can walk right past you, but it's annoying when I have to hold my breath for 3 minutes at a crosswalk.

[CrazyEyez315]

Its not up to you. But your parents to raise her right. If you don't think its a good idea mention it to them, and at most say you disaprove to her and leave it at that for now. If it gets to become an actual addiction then you can intervene, but until then its part of growing up to experiment with borders and boundries.

It's the elder siblings job to at least be a good influence. A few words is NOT interfering.

Also: If it is just weed in small doses, then it's negligible. Just keep an eye on what else she gets into otherwise, then step in.

[Fat Mac]

i injected 2 whole marijuana once and i was homeless the next day