[futurebeast]

Smoking Marijuana can definitely be equated with eating lots of junk food. It is unhealthy, destroys your teeth, it is addictive (I think that anything can be addictive) and it effects the way your mind and body works ie a drug.

Marijuana is illegal right now and it is a crazy blood bath on the streets of LA. I don't think that making it legal would make that any worse. In fact it would likely make it much better as the profit would be sucked out of the trade overnight. If you want to say that neglect of a child should be dealt with by some government agency. I would say that is a more rational argument, not that I agree with it. I think the better choice would be to have jobs available, so that children can support themselves if the need be.

Otherwise, government agencies can be involved to the extent that they help the children deal with their hardships. Housing, food and work assistance etc. would be nice. I have plenty of friends who were orphans and the state did not help them much. My mother in fact has no parents and would not have been better off in a government facility. Let the cop drive the kid home, not arrest him and hand him over to CPS. I want the cop making sure the kid does not become a prostitute. Don't much worry if he smokes or something that benign.