I constantly talk to teens about pot and always try to give them a balanced look at the issues. Yet, no matter if pot smoke is better or worse for you than cigarettes, more peacemaking or less peacemaking, non-dangerous or dangerous…it is still illegal. I do not want teens ruining their lives because they are caught with marijuana on them.
Here are a few non-health class reasons not to smoke pot, which, I believe, appeal more to their interests.
-I always stress to girls the aging effects of smoking. I spoke to a group of 16 year-olds about ‘anti-partying’ and gave them my reasons not to smoke (they were shocked, because they had not heard that before)
-At a prestigious internship interview, a friend got offered the job. Yet, when the company asked if he would be willing to take a drug test, he knew he couldn’t pass and the company took back the offer. You never know when you might get drug tested.
-Gives you lip wrinkles.
-The smoke makes your teeth yellow
-Many teens have heard about “whiskey dick” which makes it difficult for men to get an erection while drunk. There is also “stoner softie” with the same problem.
-Makes you taste bad when you kiss.
-Make allergies worse.
-You never know who is going to take an incriminating picture and post it somewhere, or use it against you later.
I always get angry commenters on my pot posts. Please do not attack my integrity or defend the benefits of pot, I have already done this in this post: 10 Reasons Parents Should Support Legalizing Marijuana. I am posting this because pot is still illegal, whether or not pot is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for you. I have also posted 10 Reasons Parents Should Not Support Legalizing Marijuana.
This post is dedicated to Tinka Brown, my old health teacher for being awesome, and being extremely open-minded, cool and informative during some very awkward classes and pubescent years.
Related Marijuana Posts:
Warning Signs Your Teen Is Doing Pot
Pot vs. Alcohol: What Are Teens Using?
11 Strategies if You Think Your Kid is Smoking Pot
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
These are great points to point out to a Teenage girl who is especially into their beauty. I say whatever reason you can find the better. Great post
this list is stupid. you can EAT pot.
Hi,
Just want to let you know that these things are not true about marijuana (I am not trying to attack your integrity or defend the benefits of pot):
-Gives you lip wrinkles.
-Many teens have heard about “whiskey dick” which makes it difficult for men to get an erection while drunk. There is also “stoner softie” with the same problem.
-Makes you taste bad when you kiss.
-Make allergies worse.
Never heard of the lip wrinkles thing, but I have not noticed such a patten in myself or any of my friends in over 10 years of smoking pot.
I can assure you from extensive personal experience that the “stoner softie” thing is a myth – I suspect it got started because of the fact that many stoners are newly pubescent men. I imagine that this, coupled with the heightened sense of general anxiety (which is often interpreted as “stoner paranoia”) that inexperienced stoners often go through because they don’t know how to take proper safety precautions, accounts for any purported evidence for your claim.
Anyone must admit that “bad” is a relative term – smoking pot does make one’s breath/mouth taste differently, but it seems to be overstepping the bounds of individual perception to label it as “bad”. Furthermore, I must point out the obvious here: most of the time, the person a smoker kisses will also be a smoker, and they will have indulged simultaneously. This means that neither one of them will be able to discern a difference.
I don’t know about all allergies, but I am allergic to dogs and cats and live with 4 of them. My allergies have gotten much better over the years I have smoked – though this may be due to changes in allergy medication. But at any rate, I have never experienced or heard of allergies becoming more severe due to pot smoke. I did have a friend who was allergic to pot smoke itself, and everyone was careful to accomodate her unfortunate sensitivity.
Also, your initial point about aging seems incorrect to me – but I’ll have to wait and see, maybe 10+ years of smoking weed isn’t long enough to experience those effects.
Cheers!
pot isnt even as bad as people think it is its all contraversial goverment bullshit pot is safer than ciggys but yet we can buy ciggys in stores but not krons. and it has so many more pros than cons (think about cancer paitants) but people are put under an illusion that its bad cuz its illegal. the only reason its illegal is cuz the gov’t is not capable of controlling it for profit cuz they cant stop people from growing it to saave a few bucks or the people who sell for their profit. and my experiances with partying is good i always smoke a bit more than i drink and i remember the whole night so pot i say is purly safe in moderate amounts no questions asked i smoke weed everyday and i havnt become any stupider or have had any health problems and i bet i could kick ur asses in a game of lacrosse if u think i have health problems.
I think weed is a good thing, but the cops lie to us and say its addictive. All they do in my town is look for kids with weed. It really sucks. Marijuana should be legal. I hope it becomes legal soon.
pce
Ok, not trying to be disagreeable, BUT
First of all, why would something that is dangerous be legal? Marijuana messes with your mind. It makes people do stupid things. No, it doesn’t have that effect on EVERYONE, but why should it be legal for some people and not for others?
BTW, I know this from personal experience, having done drugs and alcohol and other things…
Also I had a cousin killed by a guy who was on weed looking for some drugs. KILLED. It messes with some peoples minds THAT BAD.
ALSO you never know what people lace the Marijuana with. There are some crazy people out there. Even the drug dealers you THINK you can trust will stab you in the back for extra money.
furthermore, it is extremely addictive. That’s not a lie cops tell you just for fun. You can go look at all the scientific facts about it.
I’m not sure about the allergy thing or the wrinkles thing… no clue…
BUT I do know it’s illegal no matter what, and if you get caught with it it’s not a good thing. Jobs ARE affected by it… (or effected, I can never remember)
Random drug testing is VERY real, and taking water pills or trying to flush it out of your system DOES affect your health (in a very real way)
Kidney damage… Lung damage… you name it.
Back to the “it’s addictive” thing: ANYTHING that gives you an adrenaline rush can become addictive.
Also, if you know how habits are formed, it proves it even more. As we know, when we do something, your brain signals your body… well those signals eventually make pathways that become a habit because the more the signal passes through, the deeper the pathways are. Like brushing your teeth or showering. I mean, we might not FEEL like doing it at the moment, but we’re so used to it, it’s weird if we don’t.
and the actual weed isn’t bad, it’s the drug thats WITH the weed.
btw, I hate it just as much when people don’t have their facts straight. So I hope I didn’t mis-inform you. I’m almost positive I didn’t. Hope you found it useful!!
Great post. Whatever the claims about pot, still it’s addictive and damages health. And surely for teen years, who are in development stage, they don’t want to ruin their career and health, then they must quit smoking pot. The Stats of teen drug/alcohol abuse and smoking is alarming. I was amazed to see the stats of teen drug abuse here: http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teen_drug_use.html , it’s really a wake up call for society.
kool
Using ‘because its illegal’ is poor and dangerous reasoning.
The first anti-marijuana law was passed in 1913 in California to discourage the immigration of Mexicans to America. Marijuana was made illegal because of racism not because of harmful health effects. This is a fact.
We should be teaching teens to live by morals not by laws after all that is what our nation has always been about. Blatant disregard for the rules in favor of doing whats right. There were laws prohibiting whites and blacks from drinking from the same water foutain or going to the same schools. These laws were a grave injustice and it is through civil disobedience(breaking the law) that they were changed. When we tell teens they shouldnt do something ‘because its illegal’ we are only encouraging blind obedience.
Shouldnt we be teaching our teens to learn about an issue such as marijuana use then make a decision and to take responsibility for that decision instead. Our job is to teach teens how to become adults not how to remain children.
P.S. Marijuana can be mentally addictive because it is enjoyable. The same way sex, porn, gambling, rock climbing, driving, and any other pleasure causing activity/substance can be addictive. It is not physically addictive like oh lets say soda or coffee(which also turn teeth yellow). The crime associated with marijuana is because it is illegal(not because of the substance itself) and therefore more profitable. Like how bootleg liquor during the prohibition funded and caused crime.
The reason alcohol is legal and weed isn’t is because prohibition in the 20’s turned out terribly. Once you give people a right, it is extremely difficult to take it away without a major uprising. Alcohol is more profoundly historic drug than marijuana, which is why it was legalized first. Even though alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana, it is not a matter of “fairness” when people ask why alcohol is legal and marijuana isn’t. It has to do with history.
I would also like to point out that even though I don’t think weed as a substance is addictive as I’ve used it many times, but I strongly believe that it is socially addictive, which is why I stopped. I was in a circle of friends where everybody smoked, and people who didn’t smoke were considered uptight. Sharing a joint brings people together, sure- people who smoke. But it separates people who do smoke from people who don’t. Alcohol is a welcoming drug- it doesn’t matter if you drink or not, everybody can be a part of the party. With weed, you know who smokes and who doesn’t, and you tend invite outside only those people who do.
Wow. I feel like I’ve lost some of my intelligence just reading Julia’s post.
Kids don’t care if pot is illegal. It’s easier to get then alcohol, and IMO way more safe then alcohol. Weed isn’t physically addictive, but it is possible for some people to become psychologically addicted. It depends on the person. I’ve known girls who would give blow jobs for a dub (that’s $20 of weed. not very much.), and I’ve known people who would smoke their eyes out and pass all their classes. For me personally, I used weed to help me quit drinking and smoking cigarettes. What the person above me said about weed being socially addictive is true, but it also has to do with non-smokers harsh views of marijuana.
I love where I live though, EVERYONE in high school and most adults smoke pot and those who don’t are pretty chill, even the cops. Yesterday 7 of us were being drunk dumbasses and smoking right in front of the library. A cop rolled up and told us to keep it at home, then left. so we went home.
i can see why you think you should not smoke it because its illegal, but there have been many studies on the effects and the only negative outcome is less lung compacity (which michael phelps proved to be false). weed is something that is very misconstrued. it is non-addictive, no one has ever died from it, it is impossible to overdose, and many other things that are very misunderstood. http://www.abovetheignorance.org/
check that site out and then argue
Kissing someone after they just smoked a joint is disgusting. I won’t let my boyfriend kiss after he smokes. It is the nastiest thing to me and I do NOT smoke pot. I have never even tried it and I never will.
First of people should practice oral hygenie, the whole Reefer madness propaganda is still in tact today.Lies and hypocracy.With something like marajuana which no one has ever died from,or overdosed on because(it’s not humanly possible) For it to be illegal is a joke.The gov pretends they are concerned about our health and youth then sell us tobaaco and alcohol .It’s another human right taken and people don’t seem to mind.They say it’s a gate way,well living is a gate way why not just kill us all, next they will tell us what to believe how to dress and so on.The way people believe has through history been known to cause death and violence what will stop them from controlling that next.Bottom line the gov is here to see that justice is served hold us responsible for action which Do harm to others not lie so they can protect their jobs by busting people for smoking pot. Lets take our communities back teach our kids moral value, instill them with ethics, respect, pride and then we won’t need a Gov who’s a Dictator.
Check out the video below for 7 chilling reasons why you shouldn’t smoke marijuana.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJvX4GQA_A
Well, I do smoke weed, but I’m not of the opinion that weed is a perfect, harmless, drug. There ARE side effects, and alot of people (call it addiction, or not) smoke all the time, and if they have weed in the house, they HAVE to smoke it. I think it’s fine if parents don’t want their kids to smoke.
This list is BS….. and so are some of the responses here….if you want your kid to not smoke pot give them real reasons like…i dunno its illegal and if you get busted you can pay all the fines by yourself….kids know pot isnt dangerous and that is why your health scare tactics will never work….kinda hard to belive weed is so harmful when you have cancer patients and elderly lighting up to ease pain and nagging side affects of the many random illnesses that can to some extent be treated by marijuana……It is time to educate ourselves and start asking questions, like for one why on earth is a plant that makes you hungry and giggle illegal while tobacco and alcohol two major killers are legal and taxed?????
HA, this is the saddest excuse of reasons not to smoke weed I have ever seen. These are not very legitimate reasons. If you had some sort of scientific proof it would be different, but no one can do any tests on the stuff because the only way you can perform the tests is if you are going to say bad things about it.