I need advise

[BuzzKill]

Smoking from a bong is probably better for his lungs than smoking from a regular pipe or rolling a joint. Whatever that nasty shit is in bong water that makes it smell so bad, that's the stuff that's not going into his lungs.

Maybe you should change the water? Ya think? Our bongs didn't have a water component (way back when) but we had hukas, which of corse did. They didn't stink. They smelt like hash - but that isn't what you seem to be talking about.

As to the dangers - Ginger is right. I think it is now well understood that the real harm of pot use is the illegality of it and the consequences of law enforcement. That, and zero tolerance in schools and work places combined with random drug screens.

I would like to plug another of Maia's books here. Her book on Recovery Options is excellent. I had bought it for someone a while back and gave it to them with out having read it myself. (I was to anxious for them to have it to wait.) I recently ran across it, stuffed away and unread. So, I sat down to read it. I was very impressed with the common sense and candor and compassion I found there.

I think this book should be recommended by those of us concerned with the abuse in the teen help industry as "Help at Any Cost" is; Because it so honestly deals with the issue potential program families are most often facing - substance abuse - and I believe many would find it extremely helpful.  I have no doubt if widely read, it would cut into the teen help industries profit margins.

If one of you picture posting savvy people would be so kind as to provide a picture, and/or a link to this book, I'd be pleased.

[exhausted]

Thanks everyone, I have sat both boys down about this before and chatted about it as if it were something we can talk about openly.

I do realise that at this age they are going to experiment and I am also aware their friends do this, I knew not to go into one over it too, so at dinner last night I told them I found their bong by the way, I then went on to chat about bongs, skunk weed and how it makes people feel, asked them if they really felt the need to do it as it's not a pleasant smell and at the end of the day the experiment is done so let's not do it anymore

They didn't really deny it, it was a half hearted attempt to say no it wasn't theres but then they just talked with me, it was a bit weird as we were talking as if I'd found a stray animal they'd hidden in their room! I made it clear that almost everyone does this at some stage or another and I wasn't going to punish them, but that I hoped they would see how daft it is and won't hold any benefits whatsoever long term, I also reminded them that if they feel pressured by their peers they can always come indoors and blame me by saying I have them on curfew or something - i also had another quick word with the 14 yr old on his own again tonight and asked him if he had any problems that led him to want to do this, made him realise that i do understand why teens do this stuff and how horrible being a teen is, especially in today's climate etc etc, he was actually forthcoming over it and said he'd try and talk with me if things got too much for him, he then agreed it probably wasn't the best thing to be doing and would personally throw the bong away

i finished the conversation by saying it was very well made but bloody stupid, so it ended on a humorous note, he came over and gave me a hug and said thanks for not freaking out on him over it

I want to leave it at that for now, if it continues I'll obviously have to try another way to persuade him it's really not what i want for him, the last thing I want to do is go on & on about it, then it would become nagging ... these things are so delicate to approach, i wnat him to be able to trust me, not become more sneaky in hiding it

I find it a little scary that the bong thing means he's been doing this a while, again that's just confirmed what i already knew - Im trying to remain calm but my obvious feeling as a parent is that it won't be enough and he'll go onto something stronger, i know this is highly unlikely but it scares the crap out of me

Thank you all once again, i think I just needed clarification that i was approaching it in the right way, also what is PCP?

[Oz girl]

I find it a little scary that the bong thing means he's been doing this a while, again that's just confirmed what i already knew - Im trying to remain calm but my obvious feeling as a parent is that it won't be enough and he'll go onto something stronger, i know this is highly unlikely but it scares the crap out of me

You may be right that he has been doing this  for a while, but I would not say this is definitely the case based on ownership of a homemade bong. The first time I tried dope was from a bong. It may just be the popular implement of choice with the kids in you area.  :wink:

[exhausted]

I knew they were doing joints beforehand, the weird thing is that they strongly denied that - they were caught bang to rights, but yet they see to be okay about talking to me about this!!

maybe they wanted to get caught, perhaps they were loking for that solution to get out of doing it, I don't know, but if they carry it on, they know they will lose trust I have placed in them

Parenting a teen is the hardest thing in the world ... if it's not one thing it's another!!  :roll:

Lucky I've just given up on being a stress head me thinks lol

[Anonymous]

So whatever happened to the pot plant?  

[nimdA]

I know what happened to that pot plant if exhausted is over her stress.

[psy]

I knew they were doing joints beforehand, the weird thing is that they strongly denied that - they were caught bang to rights, but yet they see to be okay about talking to me about this!!

maybe they wanted to get caught, perhaps they were loking for that solution to get out of doing it, I don't know, but if they carry it on, they know they will lose trust I have placed in them

Parenting a teen is the hardest thing in the world ... if it's not one thing it's another!!  :roll:

Lucky I've just given up on being a stress head me thinks lol

Well regarding the smell..  Most people find the aroma pleasant. It smells like incense.  It's not nearly as nasty smelling as tobacco.  Yeah... water used as a filter will stink if not changed once in a while but that's pretty normal of any pool of stagnant water.

But how you dealt with the situation?  WOW... could any parent have wanted a better result..  He's now willing to come to you if something is bothering him, he aggreed to toss the bong on his own...

My advice is this:  Unless it starts to affect his school work or other parts of his life, ignore it.  He will decide to quit after a while.  It's not psychologically addictive unless a person smokes it every single day, in which case you would have probably found out a lot earlier.

Ask him why he smokes?  Is is because it feels good, or because it helps him do certain things.  Some people find it helps them draw, or even study better.  On people with ADHD, it reacts differently (especially depending on the strain).  Why is it not legal for this purpose?  Because pharmaceutical companies cannot justify selling a plant at the prices they sell things like aderall or Ritalin, which are actually amphetamines (physically and psychologically addictive).  Most ppl i know at college, or at work, at one time smoked pot, and that was regularly.  Most simply got bored of it, or found other things to do (not drugs)...

PCP... aka angel dust, is what was once laced in with weed in certain parts of LA's poorer areas. It happened once really.  The weed smells like chemicals.  PCP makes a lot of people insane, they feel no pain, and do things like punch telephone poles until all of their bones are broken.  Look. if your kid smoked anything that was laced, he would immediately know it.  Now that you're open with him, he would'nt hesitate to talk to you, and get medical attention, when before he might have adopted a "wait and see" approach, which could be harmful.

Look...  I knew a of potheads when I lived in Ireland.  The stuff there is clean and it comes from the UK.  It costs more to lace pot, so there is little motive to do so...  Whoever mentioned PCP should ... grr ...  stop scaring the parents.  That's DARE's territory..  (people scaring parents same people running Straight Inc schools (Mel and Betty Sembler))... there is little if any truth in it.

[nimdA]

The pcp comments were my own and I've since retracted them after realizing the connection between the Dare Druggie Mobile and Straight.

[exhausted]

Okay some useful tidbits of info there, thankyou again

TSW - no way with the plant (they aren't growing it, I'd smell it, I hate the smell) I tried skunk weed once and that was enough for me, I had a massive panic attack and was sick ALL NIGHT long, so no, I won't be going down that route again - oh boy, i remember that like it was yesterday  ::puke::

Psy i did ask him why he smokes it, if he was masking any problems, or wether it was just the 'cool thing to do' or if he felt pressurised by his peers, he wasn't too forthcoming with his answers so I thought it was best to leave that line of questioning before he shut off to me  ::lala::  ::blah::  
I personally think it is a pressure thing from his friends, however I am not willing to blame them, he is more than capable of saying no, I've always brought them up to be independant and not do anything because someone else wants them to - also that their decisions are theirs, no-one else is to take the rap for it

They've both just gone back out, ususally they say they are off to play a game or something but they didn't, I know through gut feeling that they've gone off to smoke dope with their 'friends'  ::hrumph::  I just said "Ok, but think about what we said yesterday ok?" Hopefully they'll be a little less willing to continue this as time goes on, especially if they feel they can trust me, let's face it, if I don't go off my head at them, it's going to lose it's appeal a little  8-)

I hope they stop soon, I am worried that it's becoming a daily thing because one of the lads has been smoking it daily for about 4 years now, his parents have actively encouraged it and supply it, I believe to relieve their own guilt of doing it themselves (alcohol also)

Oh and the eldest, just to keep you updated, didn't mention it to them, but he did find out who was giving it to them, met him at the train station and told him he was going to throw him onto the track if he ever does it again    everyone round here knows not to mess with him, so maybe the word will get round, but if they're going to do it, they'll get it somehow IMO - roll on maturity and realising what twats they're being  :lol:

[exhausted]

He came in drunk tonight

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

For crying out loud !!!!!!!!!!  :cry2:

[Oz girl]

Hey at least drink is legal

[Antigen]

Maybe you should change the water? Ya think? Our bongs didn't have a water component (way back when) but we had hukas, which of corse did. They didn't stink. They smelt like hash - but that isn't what you seem to be talking about.

Which reminds me.... last time I heard the term "hookah" was when my daughter was in the hospital. This very cool, relatively older nurse came in shadowing the regular nurse. Vic was recently post op and they were just giving her her breathing toy and instruction.

The old nurse tells her "That's right, just hit it slow and deep, just like a hookah" then the shit hit the fan. The other, younger but well indoctrinated nurse nearly fainted. Vic and I cracked the fuck up and explained to the old nurse, who was evidently on her very first hour of her very first day back on the floor, what the other one was so freaked out about.  She said that she'd been out of the business for almost 20 years, but that that's actually the way she was trained to train patients on the breathing toy.

Just shows ta go ya how things have changed over the years.

Exhausted, please don't stress out over this! Really and for true it's not a big deal. Never was, except the part about the vital need for discretion. Instead of focusing on trying to make your kids accept your notions, pick on someone your own size. Show me the the research, convince me that your specific concerns are well founded in fact. Your kids probably are not well versed in the history, politics and science of cannabis. But, give me half a chance and I'll put your mind at ease on the point.

[Anonymous]

I think he was better off with just the pot and not the alcohol.... alcohol is one of the more addictive, destructive drugs out there...makes one wonder who makes our laws.... buncha dumbasses if you ask me...but i digress....this is still more normal teen stuff.....as long as he doesnt drive while drinking or otherwise getting into mischief while drunk...he will probably grow out of this phase soon enough

[psy]

I think he was better off with just the pot and not the alcohol.... alcohol is one of the more addictive, destructive drugs out there...makes one wonder who makes our laws.

He who has the gold makes the rules.  Pharmaceutical industry, programs, etc.. have a lot of gold.  In the southern states, pot was made illegal because the Mexicans and blacks were doing it (some of the testimony during the house debates to ban the stuff is quite humorous, in a sick, racist, black humor sort of way).  the northern states just banned it as a precaution since the southern states banned it (hadn't reached the north at that point).  Dupont was also behind the propaganda, since they had a vested interest in making sure hemp never became a competitor to plastics (as was predicted in a 1929 Scientific American article).  Coincidentally, Robert Dupont was also the first drug tzar.  Coincidentally, a psychologist I know was invited to speak against legalization at one of his treatment facilities in NJ.

Go watch "reefer madness" and see the kind of crap they were pushing at that time.  It's quite humorous...

[Deborah]

http://www.newstarget.com/021768.html
The secret history of Big Pharma's role in creating and marketing
heroin, LSD, meth, Ecstasy and speed
Tuesday, April 03, 2007 by: Mike Adams

Most consumers think that street drugs are in an entirely different class than prescription drugs, and they believe that pharmaceutical companies would never manufacture or sell street drugs. But guess what? As you'll read here, drug companies actually invented many of the street drugs now considered to be the most devastating, including heroin and meth ("ice").

Here are seven facts you probably never knew about the connection
between street drugs and pharmaceutical companies:

1. Heroin was launched as a medicine by Felix Hoffman, an employee of
Bayer, only a few days after he invented aspirin. Bayer immediately
applied for a trademark on the term "heroin," then began marketing the
drug as a cure for morphine addiction. It was also marketed as cough
syrup for children.

2. Parke-Davis, a subsidiary of Pfizer, promoted and sold cocaine. It even produced a "cocaine injection kit" complete with a syringe for shooting up. Skeptical? You can view the picture yourself by clicking www.NewsTarget.com/gallery/articles/Par ... ection.jpg

3. A subsidiary of Novartis, Sandoz Laboratories, introduced the world
to LSD in 1938, marketing it as a psychiatric drug named Delysid. This
same drug company also created saccharin, the artificial chemical
sweetener.

4. Drug giant Merck pioneered the commercial manufacture of morphine
from opium and was a heavy pusher and marketer of cocaine. Merck also
patented MDMA (Ecstasy, the rave drug). After World War II, Merck also
began producing pesticides and food preservatives.

5. Ritalin is "speed" for children. A chemical amphetamine, Ritalin is made of controlled substances that would land you in prison if you sold them to a kid on the street, yet the drug is currently prescribed to millions of schoolchildren in the United States to treat a "brain chemistry condition" that was invented by the drug companies.

6. In the 1930's, drug companies marketed amphetamines as over-the-counter inhaler medicines for treating nasal congestion. Tablet amphetamines were also widely available in tablet form and frequently abused by students, truck drivers and other groups.

7. Meth was originally synthesized by chemists and later refined by drug companies. During WWII, "meth" was actually prescribed to soldiers by the U.S., Germany and Japan. Even Hitler was known as a "meth head" by his own staff. By the end of the war, millions of military personnel were addicted to the drug.

Today, meth ("crank") is made from ingredients found in over-the-counter cold medicines. While a meth epidemic sweeps America, destroying entire communities and even threatening some states (Hawaii in particular), drug companies insist their cold medicines should remain over the counter and not be classified as controlled substances. There is currently no legislative effort whatsoever to ban over-the-counter cold medicines containing the chemicals used to create meth.

Also related: Coca-Cola really did contain cocaine during its first few decades on the market (it also contained kola nut extract, hence the name). Cocaine was later removed from the formula and replaced with caffeine, a substance that is similarly addictive and serves much the same purpose.

Once you realize the connection between street drugs and prescription
drugs, it's easy to figure out why Big Pharma is such a strong supporter of the Partnership For A Drug-Free America -- because they don't want consumers getting their drugs from street dealers, they want people buying their drugs from drug companies! Drug companies' attempts to outlaw street drugs are little more than a way of eliminating the competition and monopolizing the drug market.

Ultimately, Big Pharma is just another drug pushing cartel that has the same goals as any drug dealer: Convince customers they need your drug, get them hooked on it, and eliminate the competition.

The only difference is that Big Pharma has been so successful at dealing drugs that it has enough funds to buy off Congress, the Food and Drug Administration and practically the entire psychiatric industry (not to mention medical schools and mainstream media outlets).

Today, more than 40 percent of the U.S. population ingests FDA-approved synthetic chemicals manufactured and marketed by drug companies.

Drug companies think this number is too low. Their goal is to have 100
percent of the U.S. population taking not just one drug per day, but
multiple drugs every day, for life.