Opioid deaths in Colorado fell more than 6 percent after marijuana legalization

Sorry to hear about your step daughters but honestly it sounds more like a problem with substance abuse by minors rather than an issue with any particular substance.

PO2 Robert Aitchison - yeah they know it all but no what all knucklehead teens get really affected by smoking pot which may be painted was other stuff that can fry their brains and that's what I think happened with both of daughters and one of them is really stuck on opiates and they both are cigarette a text to. Raising prices at 12:13 hours of pack is not going to stop a smoker and they've done this in Canada and you have smoker druggy guys my age writing bicycles are going through dumpsters because two liter bottles you get a quarter any smaller you get a dime so if you get enough bottles and cans you choose between smoking and eating and you choose smoking. I put them both in Catholic school and one of the daughters met a guy who actually drank with his parents so actually that backfired on us. Both of them Mets druggie types that would allow them to shock was in temporarily and do drugs and they were both basically vagabonds. Both are now too old to get their high school credits done for free that got to pay full tuition. So what has 11th grade education has a 9th grade education. One collapsed in our house visiting due to drug withdrawals period when the paramedics took her to the hospital, they couldn't do anything because she was already an adult. So yes, it affects the young people more because their brains are still developing and they are most susceptible to the effects. Oh I also put them both in Air Force Junior ROTC and that didn't help either. One of them would ditch as soon as she got there she would change and leave and go hang out with druggies.

LTC (Join to see) - Man that's a rough story, makes me count my own blessings. I hope that your step daughters get the help they need and get well.

Anecdotally, I did smoke pot and drink when I was in high school, haven't touched Marijuana since then (so 1987). I drank quite a lot when I was a young sailor but now I drink infrequently (every few months I have a couple drinks). I'd probably drink more often but I really have to watch my caloric intake.

As for my own sons, my wife and I decided to allow our sons to consume alcohol in our home when they were teenagers so we could teach them responsible drinking. My father is an avid home brewer and got my eldest into the hobby and actually gave my son a beer tapper for a high school graduation present. He's made his own beers, ciders, meads and even a batch of whiskey. They are 23 and 19 now and so far are making responsible choices and are even able to moderate the drinking of their friends & shipmates. My youngest has on his own initiative cut himself off from a couple of his football buddies (one who was a reasonably close friend) because his drinking was getting out of control and my oldest was able to recognize when his shipmates were drinking too much and made sure they got back to the ship safe and without incident.

Every family and every person is different, my wife and I made decisions that made sense to us and so far it seems to be working but every parent has to make their own choices.

PO2 Robert Aitchison - I'm glad you have a good family. My wife property messed up family on her reservation thank goodness she had a foster dad who is an ex alcoholic Hayden ex fighter pilot enrolled War 2 flying mosquitoes and he sobered up it was a principal we had to masters degrees he was really squared away but he got her squirt awake going to AAA meetings because she was drinking all the time as well it at age 18 or so then she got pregnant with her first husband and she had the two daughters. Unfortunately, the daughters were not very well taken care of when she went to work in the oil field and its possible one of them was sexually abused. We now have a 10 year old and a 6 year old daughter that are mine and my wifes and those kids have seen what drugs do to the older ones and they listen to us and they know how creepy friends can change people. They know by sobriety no smoking cigarettes is bad they know that both of them are cigarette addicts as well as addictions in other ways. They know how it changes her behavior home a little ones are very well protected my wife does not go to most social functions because we have issues were you have uncles hitting up on the grandparents or this case uncles heading up on their their mom to get there pension my niece I could buy alcohol because they don't work themselves., I smoke pot a couple times in high school ID in college and luckily I did not get a ticket. So people are produced close to getting it take to the easier than others I never was much for drinking either even though I wasn't a fraternity but it was weird to see alcoholics in there early twenties in my fraternity
My sister started smoking pot in the 5th grade and she did graduate from high school but she was always a party animal and a drinker. She drank all the time she was always showing that she was this bar and grill and that Bar and Grill with her last husband but she ended up being physically abused by him and his up committing suicide on the 4th July 2015 at the age of 49. She had a substance abuse problems with painkillers that may have been from fall that she had that it causes severe pain so painkillers, alcohol and emotional problems will cause someone to commit suicide. She thought that she didn't need to go to AA because she drinks beer only. That is a really nice position to take that means you don't know anything about it and she will not admit that she was helpless. Thank you for telling me your story. I just thought I'd it would never happen to me where I would have a suicide my family that would related to alcohol. I never expected to have druggy step kids and I always thought it was somebody else. Will used to watch celebrity rehab and all kinds of shows will get kids were younger and it just did not matter. The saying that you can leave horses to water but you can't make them drink is so true!

Sir, I respectfully disagree. If someone has an issue with substance abuse, that is a personal problem. However, if one can responsibly use a substance, I find that people should be free to make that choice. Just because there are alcoholics in this world does not mean that we should make it illegal for the whole population. The same goes for marijuana. The most dangerous side effects I've seen from marijuana is complete laziness/ no drive. That is more of a personal issue, though.

There are many brilliant people that choose to responsibly drink or smoke. Then there are those that aren't responsible and have very little thought. It's unfair to say that a substance will automatically wreck your life. If that were the case, I don't know how our society would function because there would be millions more alcoholics that couldn't function. There just are some out there who have that genetic predisposition/ personality, and there are many levels of severity when it comes to substance abuse.

Why is marijuana a horrible choice for those that can responsibly use? Because it is illegal. I believe I can thank big pharma for that and alcohol for that.

SFC (Join to see) - I smoke pot when I was younger and I drink too and I did not become an addict. My step daughter takes off almost every night at 10 o'clock to go do something. She stays up all night and sleeps most of the day when she said on the stays over at our place. She's throwing away 7 years of her life. I know that identical twins that I've been studied and both of them have the propensity for addictions but one is not influenced by the culture of the drugs and the other one was. I'm not saying make it and legal because you can't you have idiots in three states you have a prime minister in Canada others I want to make it legal. I have no problem with terminal terminal cancer who need to kill the pain. The second and third order of effects of a druggy society is you basically have a Walking Dead walking around asking for handouts smoking cigarettes going through dumpsters looking for bottle so they can buy their $12 a pack cigarettes like in Canada. Raising prices won't help since they live with us every day and I'm sure others have to. Is not fun one druggy has a heart problem and she's too afraid to go get a pacemaker. Her heart problems probably was caused by her drug use mixed in with other drugs and it just messed her heart up. The other one has panic attacks and has collapsed in our house on withdrawals. So I was watching the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival movie last night and thinking of all these young people that were affected by drugs and it looks so nice when they were young but now look at them. Look at most of them were dead from drug overdoses. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones walking around just before he died. I'm sure many others on stage passed away from drug overdose and who knows how many in the audience. The Civil Wars happening in Central and South America as well as Mexico are caused by drug addicts in the United States and Canada that are fueling the demand and the drug lords down south or just trying to satisfy it.