Marijuana and Children: A Smattering of Articles from the Web

I'm glad there's some decent articles, books and discussion boards kicking this idea around the edges of the mainstream in more productive ways than when I was in D.A.R.E. so many years ago. What a joke that was. You ever try parenting on weed!??! Enjoy the articles I dug up:

Is it always wrong for kids to smoke marijuana? Two families discuss their pot-smoking kids.

Kids and pot; a controversial topic if there ever was one, with many pot advocates buying into the prohibitionists' idea that it's always bad for children to use marijuana.

"Protecting kids from drugs" is the mantra of justification for prohibitionists who want adults thrown in jail for using cannabis. But it isn't just anti-potties who decry underage cannabis use. For example, at a marijuana rally, three high school kids came up and asked me if I would smoke with them. I did and found them to be witty, savvy, fun people. When I returned to the activist's booth I'd been at, however, one of the powerhouses of the marijuana movement told me I was immoral for smoking with the kids.

"We believe it's wrong for kids to get high," I was told. "You're setting a bad example."

I was surprised that a person who publicly states that the cannabis plant is a healing herb with medicinal, spiritual and industrial uses would so vehemently oppose its use by young people. I realized then that it would be helpful to discuss kids and pot, and to solicit a dialogue on the subject between this magazine and its readers.

We want to hear what you have to say about the issue, and I'll be sharing what I've learned as a marijuana writer and researcher.

In future articles you'll read about high school students who got tired of drug dogs and strip searches and stood up to their oppressors, and a tribe of pot-smoking pygmies with kids who smoke African weed while running through jungles and climbing trees. You'll think about dilemmas faced by parents, whose love for herb is complicated by prohibition and love for their children.

In the world of enlightened cannabis use, there are no pot crimes, but there are choices. Should kids get high? What happens to them when they do? Why do they use pot? What should parents and society do about it, if anything? Let's answer these questions together.

Communication and experimentation

I was at an Oregon farmer's home photographing his grow room. His ten-year- old son, Jeremy, was cooking dinner, some kind of Thai recipe, with coconut milk, lemon grass, and cannabis leaves.

It smelled wonderful, but I was wondering if Jeremy was going to partake of what I assumed would be a psychoactive supper. I saw him tong a fat Indica leaf from the soup and pop it in his mouth, which pretty much answered my unspoken question: he used pot.

At dinner, I questioned Jeremy and his dad about marijuana use as I greedily slurped down the delicious soup.

Jeremy's father John told me that Jeremy had asked him two years ago about the plants in the garage, about the wacky tobaccy dad smoked after a day on the tractor.

"It was obvious the boy wanted to try some," said John, a single father who'd raised Jeremy since age 7 when the boy's mother was killed in a car wreck.

"I told him, 'Go ahead,' but it's strong stuff and you best not smoke up all my stash,"...Read More...

More Links:

Tips for talking to your children about marijuana.

Kids and Pot: Scary? Not!

Adults Teach Small Children To Smoke Pot - Youtube


A good message board discussion on this topic

It's Just a Plant: a Children's Story of Marijuana - written by a former DARE Officer.

The above book causes a bit of a stir, all the way up to Congress