Marijuana

[futurebeast]

Originally Posted by MMM

You really think 8-year-olds should have the right to smoke marijuana if they want to?

And their parents the right to stop them. The cops and the court can stay out of it. If your kid is buying weed, you already screwed up pretty bad. They will probably get CPSed anyways and then they will be doing hardcore stimulants and mind altering drugs like Prozak. I hear 60% of all kids managed by the state are on SSRI's. Now tell me that is much better than THC....

[MMM]

Originally Posted by futurebeast

And their parents the right to stop them. The cops and the court can stay out of it. If your kid is buying weed, you already screwed up pretty bad. They will probably get CPSed anyways and then they will be doing hardcore stimulants and mind altering drugs like Prozak. I hear 60% of all kids managed by the state are on SSRI's. Now tell me that is much better than THC....

But how do the parents have the right to stop them if it isn't illegal. Eliminating the law only undermines their authority. Instead of the cops and the courts helping control out-of-control kids, you are now saying let's take that away.

But you are contradicting yourself.

If you say pot should be legal for everyone, then how did the parents screw up? Or are you really saying that pot shouldn't be available to children?

[futurebeast]

Originally Posted by MMM

But how do the parents have the right to stop them if it isn't illegal. Eliminating the law only undermines their authority. Instead of the cops and the courts helping control out-of-control kids, you are now saying let's take that away.

But you are contradicting yourself.

If you say pot should be legal for everyone, then how did the parents screw up? Or are you really saying that pot shouldn't be available to children?

It is not a contradiction. Parents can have their kids do whatever they want. That is why they are the parents. The police are not your parents, nor should they dictate how you should or should not raise your kids. Your parents can make you go to church and eat breakfast before school, but it is not illegal not to do either. They can also ground you for not doing your homework. Last time I checked, doing homework was not the law, just the law of the house.

I am saying that it is the parents responsibility to teach their kids what they should and should not do. Making it illegal usually complicates the situation.

Again, it is not illegal to sit at home and eat french fries and candy all day. Even if you will eventually get diabetes. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach the child otherwise.

[honoraryjapanesegirl]

Originally Posted by futurebeast

It is not a contradiction. Parents can have their kids do whatever they want. That is why they are the parents. The police are not your parents, nor should they dictate how you should or should not raise your kids. Your parents can make you go to church and eat breakfast before school, but it is not illegal not to do either. They can also ground you for not doing your homework. Last time I checked, doing homework was not the law, just the law of the house.

I am saying that it is the parents responsibility to teach their kids what they should and should not do. Making it illegal usually complicates the situation.

Again, it is not illegal to sit at home and eat french fries and candy all day. Even if you will eventually get diabetes. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach the child otherwise.

Yes, but not doing homework becomes illegal when the parent gets presistant warnings of the students' failure, and nothing happens.

The question here is...where to draw the line? I, personally, am against the use of marijuana, except for limited and controlled medical use. Parents are parents to teach their childern the ways of life, let the ways of life vary considering the parent, but they are there to guide and teach, not to supervise, and stand out of the picture. That time will eventually come, but not when the kid's young and naive still. The parent should be able to decern the limits, and be able to tell their child no when the time calls for it.

Marijuana is a drug and addictive drug, that can lead to some serious damage. There needs to be some kind of law, so that the world doesn't spin out of control like one big huge addict...

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

[MMM]

So you can acknowledge that smoking weed is not a healthy or wise choice for an 8-year-old, but it should be legalized?

I think "it should be the parent's responsibility" is an argument that has lost credibility the last few decades. In the 50's when mothers didn't work and people didn't get divorced (and the economy was strong) this sort of notion made more sense.

But in 2009 if we really put all responsibility of the raising and caring of children solely on blood parents it would be absolute chaos out there. I can't see anything positive coming from the decriminalization of marijuana use for children. Without this, drug use is not something teachers, doctors, or other authorities and intervene in. I don't think you can equate marijuana use with not doing homework, especially in growing children. And "not doing homework" is not a fair comparison, anyway, as truancy is illegal. Should we make going to school optional as well? What good would come from that?

[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.

[xyzone]

Hey, if the parents want to give pot to their kids, that's fine in their home. My dad gave me beer when I was a kid and the world didn't end. And no, I didn't become an alcoholic. I just hate and never touch "pisswater" beer now.

(but if pot becomes legal it shouldn't be sold to kids, obviously)

[futurebeast]

I would say that communities should decide on what is sold to who too. If someone is irresponsible enough to sell weed to a 9 year old, I as a parent (which I am not) should form a citizen group to boycott and kick that retailer out of my neighborhood. That would cause everyone to think twice before doing that again.

Anyways, this should not be a war between you and your children or your children and the state. If your children don't trust or listen to you, you have already failed. They will probably be able to find weed somewhere somehow.

[xyzone]

Well that could certainly be debated, but either way, if nothing else, the important and key first step is rolling back the illogical prohibition. Although I do think there is some sense to laws meant to protect children, because messed up children grow up to be burden adults.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by 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.

I am still trying to figure out how your argument it is bad for you means it should be legalized for children.

I don't think anyone in the pro-marijuana movement would be behind you on this one. A child's brain is growing, so things like nicotine, alcohol, THC, etc can have permanent and irreversible effects, which isn't necessarily true of adults. Children are also not responsible or mature enough to make educated decisions about things like cigarettes and drugs...another reason society makes the collective decision to keep them out of the hands of children.

Isn't being a parent today hard enough without society abandoning parents and opening access to marijuana to children? Should I assume tobacco and alcohol should also be accessible?

Originally Posted by xyzone

Hey, if the parents want to give pot to their kids, that's fine in their home. My dad gave me beer when I was a kid and the world didn't end. And no, I didn't become an alcoholic. I just hate and never touch "pisswater" beer now.

(but if pot becomes legal it shouldn't be sold to kids, obviously)

I think giving marijuana to a growing child is the epitome of irresponsibility.