It’s hard work, but all parents need to educate their children about drug use dangers. Since marijuana is one of the cheapest and easiest drugs to get, there is a great danger that it will be available to children. Parenting tips are often the best help for teens and young adults who may be well aware of drug use risks and avoid them altogether. As daunting as the beginning of this dialogue is, there are important strategies parents can use to get their children’s attention. Of course, parents need to use their own words and be honest, but there are certain facts that parents need to know before talking to their children about avoiding drug abuse.
Do not exaggerate the harmful effects of smoking marijuana.
Today, young people are very well informed and can find almost any information on any topic on the Internet media and at Minnesota Medical Marijuana Dispensary. Suppose parents talk about the exaggerated or non-existent effects of marijuana use. In that case, children may assume that these adults are not sufficiently informed or even suspect that the parents are simply lying. The distortion of the effects of marijuana can jeopardize the credibility necessary to discuss these complex issues. Don’t be obsessed with the problem of marijuana use. When attention spans get shorter and shorter, young people can get bored very quickly.
Smoking marijuana itself is not a great risk, but the potential for marijuana users to switch to other drugs after using marijuana poses a serious risk. People who choose to smoke marijuana make almost the same decision to harm their health as people who choose to smoke tobacco. While almost no one allows their addiction to tobacco to become a gateway to another drug, more than 80% of marijuana smokers start using other drugs that are much more harmful.
Use your own life experience as an example. Whether you smoke, smoke, or quit, you have a powerful tool for talking to young people about smoking risks. You can share the reasons why you don’t smoke. If you’ve smoked before but quit (at best), you could use your own words to explain why you quit and how difficult it was to do so. Since the non-medical use of marijuana is illegal in most countries, one of the best arguments you can use is that it doesn’t matter if smoking marijuana is harmful or not; getting caught in it will almost certainly result in jail time.
At the end
In many jurisdictions, people charged with possession of marijuana face severe penalties that can be disproportionate to the crime. Ensure the youth you are speaking with are aware of the difficult and often unfair legal situations they may face.
