medical marijuana - a hypothetical conversation

surprise belated birthday flowers :) completely irrelevant to the post, just pretty!

The year is two thousand and fourteen, and as everyone knows (who doesn't live with their head in the sand) marijuana is a big issue in our country right now. Medical marijuana laws exists in something like 15 states, and as of last November two states, Washington and Colorado, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana as well. There are many more states with laws in the pipelines for medical or recreational legalization too. Society has made huge strides since the Reefer Madness days, but it is still far from legal and accepted by everyone. 

All this led to a discussion a few nights ago regarding how a parent could/should/would raise their children in a home with regular marijuana use. Even in it's current illegal state there are many different answers to this question (evident by the world around us.) Many parents smoke in bathrooms and closets, others smoke openly in front of children (with or without explaining it to them), and more still give it up altogether for the sake of their children's innocent minds. 

I think adding legalization to the mix changes things drastically. Instead of being associated with illegal drugs, like cocaine or heroin, it can be grouped with the legal crutches, like alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine. Even so, how much is too much for children to see? Some argued that they would still smoke behind closed doors. Others suggested that they would smoke openly in the evening, but hide it earlier in the day, "they shouldn't see you smoking all day long..." 

Another opinion, my favored one really, said, "If you explain to a child that it is a medication, and the alternative medications, you can help them understand from a young age. If you can say, I used to take antidepressants, anxiety pills, multiple pain killers, daily preventives medicines, a handful of different drugs for stomach problems, and that's just the start- but now, now I don't take anything. I just smoke marijuana. Which doesn't have any of the negative side effects of all those pills. I feel better than I have in my whole life. Well, I think even a kid can see that it's a good thing..."

There's many different ways to raise a child. 

This entire post is just a hypothetical conversation, 

but I'd like to keep it going. 

What's your opinion?

Until next time,

Angela Kelly