Don’t know how I ended up in this part of Kinja, but as an adult in a legal state, I have to say that the teenagers I’ve talked to here are really respectful of the 21+ laws for marijuana. I think “I’m only 18" gives them an easy way to say “I don’t smoke pot” without sounding uncool.

It’s not necessarily a completely “healthier alternative” to cigarettes. It doesn’t burn tobacco, but if these Juuls heat up the flavoring in those pods (not sure how Juuls work, but vapes have a heating element), it can convert them to aldehydes, which are carcinogenic.

Gotta be careful though, cigarette users that move to that stuff usually end up taking in a lot more nicotine then they had previously. A guy at work that switched almost died due to it.

“It really hit home for me how common these things are. What’s worse, is some parents keep buying them for their kids and openly defy the principal claiming “they’re harmless”. It really has the principal at his wits end.”

Never lose sight of the fact that even you - were a kid once.

You have an interesting conundrum here, but I think the one thing I wholeheartedly disagree with is pulling him out of sports. If it was your decision, I’d reverse it. If it was the school’s decision, I’d plead with them to reinstate him.

I think that’s the thing. Parents need to quit hiding these things from their kids and tell them how badly it COULD mess them up. No need to scare them or anything, just be brutally honest and use real world examples, if possible, about the dangers of addiction.

Our daughter was caught with one. At school. She’s 15. A thirsty 18 year old guy bought it for her trying to get on her good side (didn’t work). We were furious. She says most of her friends have them. My wife, a cigarette smoker of 20 years, confiscated it immediately. About a month later, she tried using it. She…

I’m trying to post this in a concise form: your kid is in an incredibly vulnerable place right now. You are right to worry about him doing things for approval from his peers/you. The replies where they’re pointing out that you’ve ruined his high school social life? They’re right too. What he needs right now is outside…

Hey, no one predicted this scenario the very moment vape pens were first introduced.

Product of an overbearingly strict household growing up here: your kid will grow resentful of you and will rebel more due to you treating him like this. I have a great relationship with my parents now (I’m 26), but there was a lot of resentment and tension in the high school/college years due to how much they tried to…

I don’t know you, your kid, or your situation, but I would be careful of going overly harsh. Back in high school my parents threatened to remove me from the rowing team, and I honestly would have tanked/sabotaged my own life before I let them do that. The point being, if you go too harsh you might just create bigger…

Shouldn’t you be having that conversation regardless of whether or not your state legalizes weed? These subjects should not be taboo. Kids are going to learn about forbidden things (drugs, sex, ect...) so get out front of it and start the discussion.

Don’t discount the fact that teens just looooooooove to do “forbidden” shit they’re not supposed to be doing.

No offense, but if this is real and not a (pretty good) troll job, it sounds like your son has a much bigger problem than vaping, being impressionable, or wanting to fit in. Pulling him out of class and taking him into the principal to confess and rat out the rest of his friends sounds like something that will have…

I sat there while he ratted out every kids real name from the buy/sell group as I scrolled the list and couldn’t help but be a little sad at how quickly he cracked to save his own tail.

I wonder if a lot of that has to do with the forced conversations that parents would need to have though.

As a parent I wanna say that sounds rather harsh. How about a slap on the wrist for a first time offender. I mean, even letting him rat out his own ‘friends’? The poor kid will probably have no life at school until graduation.

Your kid is 15 and not allowed to use social media? No wonder he’s rebelling.

I’m mostly concerned that these are just a start with the legalization of marijuana in my state.