Marijuana – How to explain it to your children

HIGH Everyone

Here’s an informative article about what to tell your children about cannabis use by figment, one of the new board members working with the new San Antonio NORML chapter.

“How marijuana was explained to me…

Well, I was raised much differently than most children. I spent a lot of my early years in my parent’s well known head shop in Dallas, TX named Strawberry Fields. My parents were high contributors to NORML, and in 1979 they attended an art auction hosted by NORML at the Playboy mansion. Marijuana (and it’s paraphernalia) was always around me. My parents would smoke marijuana in front of me on a regular basis. My parents never told me about it being harmful. It was just a very open drug they used, even grew, and sold.

In 7th grade, I remember saying I would never drink alcohol or do drugs. By 9th grade, I was drinking vodka in large amounts every weekend. I made so many careless, dangerous, stupid mistakes, but I did not try marijuana until I was 17, and I did not like it.

There are ways to talk to your kids to help them understand why you have the right to choose to smoke or ingest marijuana and they do not.
The simple ABC formula:

* Adult – you are the adult. You are over the age of 18. You are the parent. You make the decisions. What makes you an adult? Your…
* Brain – a child’s brain is still growing. Adding ANY substance can hurt the development of their brains and bodies. I’m also talking about alcohol, caffeine, over the counter medications, and prescription drugs.
* Cognitive Development – studies have shown that kids who start smoking marijuana at an early age show cognitive defects which are not shown in people who begin smoking when they are older.

Check out these links…

* Marijuana Drug Use – Most Important Things Parents Need to Know About Marijuana
* Neuroscience For Kids – Marijuana
* Why is Marijuana Illegal?

It’s really that simple? No… there are more drugs and things to talk to your children about than just marijuana. At least your children cannot overdose on marijuana unlike the chemicals under your sink, pills in your medicine cabinet, alcohol, and more harmful drugs. It is very important to also talk to your children about the effects of other drugs and the risks of having sex. ”

Big thanks to figment for the article and the information. Remember, it’s the responsibility of the parent to make sure their child knows what is safe for them and what isn’t. Most kids are going to make mistakes, we all did and the more things change, the more they stay the same. If you arm them with honest knowledge about drugs and alcohol though, you’re giving them a fighting chance to make better decisions.

Onward and upward,

Topher Belsher
Director of Online Community Outreach
Texas NORML
[email protected]