You can\'t tell kids what to do. You can advise and let them experiment with guidance and suffer the consequences. Kids don\'t think we know what we\'re talking about. They think the world was created brand new just for them and they\'re the only ones who feel the way they feel. That\'s why it\'s so much fun to teach them literature. It\'s a genuine surprise to them to learn they\'re members of the human race and we\'ve all felt the things they feel from time to time.

I started smoking pot when I was 14. I still do, about once a month or so. So do many people I know, professionals, who live just fine. The majority of the people who drink or smoke dope end up handling it fine. They do stupid kid stuff when they\'re stupid kids, and then they grow out of it. Just like Ryan\'s growing out of it. And if he thinks it\'s bad for him, then it is. But a lot of what they say about pot is bullshit, and when you lie to kids, you lose their respect forever.

I know what you mean about drugs causing grief. I\'ve experienced it too and seen a lot of it from working in a mental hospital. But people with addictive personalities are going to do SOMETHING to extreme. If it\'s not pot, it will be alcohol, if it\'s not alcohol, it will be whatever else is handy.