Ainslie and Larry:
Ainslie, someone very close to me is right about where you are with his sobriety from pot. Your words could be exactly his. Maybe you ARE him, but he is in the US. He is very scared the pot damaged his brain, having smoked it heavily for 20 years. He is also worried about his lungs. I see him coming out of it though, so I am hopeful.
Larry, the most important thing you said was:
"Weed may not make you violent, but it certainly has a way of making you not care. Everything gets put off until tomorrow, and then one day you realize tomorrow never comes and it is too late to live the life you dreamed of."
The guy very close to me blew off fully paid tuition to a fantastic university, going for 3 years but failing out because he was too stoned to do the work. He regrets it horribly now and has great remorse for what he has lost. He no longer has the money to go back to school and is stuck with only those jobs those without an education can get.
I used to LOVE pot, grew my own, had a great time smoking it. But it was mild, especially home grown, and especially in the 60's and early 70's. The "new pot" is hybrid, grown for potency, and really strong. I took one hit back in 1994 from someone's joint, and was terrified when it left me "loaded" for two days. Geez. And, yes, we used to call them "doobies" in the 60's, and "reefers" back in the 50's and 60's. Not kidding.
I still think it should be legalized, so at least it would be controlled and make it less likely to become a "gateway drug" which it ABSOLUTELY is. When you get into the subculture of illegal substances, do you really think you are only going to find pot there? Come on. (This is not an invitation for debate, PLEASE.)
Soph, I pray you will have success with your son. Unfortunately, teens usually are more influenced by their peer group than their parents. Maybe you could find someone his age he can relate to who can talk about the pitfalls of pot without sounding preachy. Pot has definitely ruined careers and ruined lives, if only by the apathy it instills in its users.