Forgive the book here. This thread hits close to home. Skip it if you want, but thanks for listening.

Times they are a changing.

I'm in my 40's. I've got three kids, a son who is 23 and two daughters 18 and 16. I went to high school back in the late 70's and used to carry a just-in-case joint in my wallet to school every day. That was before they taught dogs to sniff it out and before there'd ever been a school shooting. They searched lockers only if they thought someone was selling, Even then it was just that one locker.

Your age is on your side here. If you're under 18 then you'll be treated almost as if you aren't old enough to know better. Everything they throw at you is a lesson, not a punishment. I know it feels like punishment. Once you hit 18 they won't cut you any slack at all.

You and I both know that the law has some lessons to learn for itself. With 2 million people in prison, half of them for what most of us here consider victimless crimes, this entire government obviously misinterpreted the constitution that our old buddy, author of that constitution and hemp grower extraordinaire Thomas Jefferson tried to teach them. That what you do with your own mind is nobody else's business.

Ah, but it's your parent's business if they're good parents at all. Sure, they probably smoked weed in their day. Like me they might even have friends or family who got so burned out on it they don't want you to go down the same path. My kids have always used my brother as an example of what not to become. They guy has done (and still does) every drug there is. He isn't going to last long and his only quality of life is in his head. He can't afford anything because he really just won't get off his butt and do anything. He's 50 and works at a place where he stacks molding strips, lives in a hotel, ignores his grown kids because he's embarassed, and has actually dragged some of his friends (who make a living dealing and stealing) to my 75 year old mother's house to meet the parents. Bad move. That pissed us off royally. He has lost all sense of discretion. He's also a drinker and (we found out when he was in ICU for a different problem) he's suffered heart attacks during crack binges. They almost couldn't bring him out of anesthesia because of the scars on his heart.

I don't want to sound like I'm lecturing here, because I'm not. This is really personal shit. But I can't even begin to tell you how many decisions a person has to make in a day. As far as this society is concerned, being successful in family and in business just means you can make a lot of decisions and most of them (not all) turn out for the better. If you don't have a sober moment in a day when you can see all sides of a situation then most of those decisions, big and small, probably won't be well considered. As lovely as it is, pot, weed, whatever draws you inside yourself and expands your senses. It enhances how you see the world, but it removes your ability to perceive how the world sees you or your actions. You know that "Can they tell I'm stoned?" feeling. This is key. If you can't sense what other people think or feel then it makes those decisions one-sided and pretty selfish. After years of making decisions everyone points out are wrong you begin to feel like "what the fuck, why try?" That's my brother to a tee.

My whole family blames the way my brother is on pot. I do too, in part. I say that because ANYTHING in excess is probably not a good thing. Weed, like alcohol, is a recreational experience. You can't spend your entire life at an amusement park and expect anything of lasting value to come of it. Fun only lasts as long as fun lasts. Fun is a way to blow off steam. Amusement parks exist, and should exist, to help us all.

I believe, because of all this, your parents aren't going to listen. They probably know that pot isn't physically harmful. Maybe every other weekend when life gets rough they take a trip to the old amusement park themselves. That's nobody's business but their own, and that's the boat I'm in. But they want you to be able to master the future that lies in front of you. Since you're under 18 then Screw the legal part of the whole situation. If you can't see what they're feeling for you then it's probably because you're stoned.

I mean no offense to all you good souls out there. This is just the way I see it.