Epilepsy and marijuana

RE: RE: Epilepsy and marijuana

Submitted by Gretchen on Fri, 2005-02-04 - 04:05

OH! I have trouble "turning pages", so I didn't get to read all the posts - somehow.I raised 11 children. That doesn't make me Mother of the Year, probably the opposite a lot of the time- Most Burned Out Mother of the Year BUT - the realities of life are? Posting about marijuana use isn't going to be where children are exposed to it's existence or is first going to be heard. All of my children had first exposure in school starting in grade school. We lived in a higher end suburban area (boy those were the days! :( ) but anyway my kids from about 6th grade up, at least at that time would come home and very nonchalantly ask me questions about drugs, alcohol, sexual questions that set my teeth on edge but needed to be addressed. There is no censor for the world. I was glad my children were exposed to these things and did bring their questions home to me. We could then have a good sit down talk and I would listen to them, they could get the straight facts from me.Also most communities now have the D.A.R.E program or something similar starting in grade school. I was a volunteer at my children's grade school a number of years and MJ, alcohol, all kinds of drugs were discussed openly. In fact I'm glad it was because my personal knowledge of street drugs was just about zip on the zip to 100 scale. I couldn't answer my children's questions. I learned right along with them. Footnote: There are some horrid things out there though! Methamphetamines? Good grief why would anyone start using that? Then I think marijuana? I almost felt like encouraging them TO try it rather then go the meth, cocaine, PCP and other routes. Also marijuana is NOT physically addictive as many think. It is however extremely emotionally addictive. There are some very nasty things out there, not pure, and I wanted my children to know about these things at an early age. And they did through their schools, both on the playground and in class, frank discussions at home, and as far as I know no one is a regular user of any drugs and I do think it didn't hurt them to have good healthy exposure and education early in their lives before they were tempted. I even told my children about my pot and PCP experience. I'm not perfect, have never set myself up to them in that way and that horrible personal experience of mine I think sunk in very deeply with them.My kids are all adults now. Maybe some of them have a joint once in awhile. I have no evidence one way or the other. But because they were exposed to the dangers of having your mind altered through the D.A.R.E. program I could also introduce the dangers of driving in that state - it gave me a very good opportunity to introduce "designated driver" and my children will slip it in all the time to me, that they do party, and they do use designated drivers. I'm glad the topic came up. But the BIG thing I did discuss with my children, after working in an ER when I was far too young to handle what came through those doors, was not to drink or drug and drive. My children came from very large schools. Their HS graduating classes were usually about 550 kids and in each class several children were killed drinking, driving or drugging or were killed by someone who was. I've lost a son. Not to that cause but it's not something you get over. It only with luck gets less painful in time. So? THAT is what scares me witless. I read a study that if MF was legalized more children who drink would segue over to marijuana and marijuana smokers tend to know when they can not drive as opposed to people drinking alcohol who don't seem to know when they're impaired. I have never been able to hold any booze but the rare occasion when I would drink in my life I KNEW I could drive - when I couldn't. The friend I mentioned who smoked MJ only for his AEDs? He grew a tolerance to it's effects and said he never felt high any longer and didn't seem to be either. Of course, I can't vouch for that. This paragraph is mostly trivia gained by me but I felt worth throwing in.But I will say this too. We gave each one of our children used computers when they entered middle school or HS and we used the "parental controls" after one of my 7 year old daughters showed me a pornographic site. Well, discussing that was - educational!?Gretchen