It's been a couple years since this thread started, so why not keep it going?
By the time Helplessteen grows up, has college and career, we might have this figured out for her...
helplessteen wrote:POT IS AWFUL BECAUSE IT IS A DRUG-ITS ILLEAGAL-YOUR BREAKING THE LAW! YOU'LL GO TO HELL!! I WANT TO SEE MY PARENTS IN HEAVEN BUT I WILL NEVER GET TO BECAUSE MY PARENTS ARE POTHEADS!! AN I HAVE TOLD THEM ABOUT IT SEVERAL TIMES JUST NOT THIS TIME! THATS WHY I NEEDED ADVICE!!
Helplessteen (and anyone else wandering by in the next few years):
Our society has changed greatly in the last few decades. It used to be that breaking a law was really something serious. Now it's pretty hard NOT to break some law every day. Things are not so black-and-white, all-or-nothing, good-and-evil anymore. It's worth keeping the lesser things in perspective, and only getting worked up about the big things that can make a real difference in life.
I encourage you to read the whole following editorial, but I'll quote just a bit of it here.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070327/cm_usatoday/justicewhatajoke;_ylt=AsFelyJ5obTj0Gs3Z7gP1g_MWM0F
Quote:Across the USA, legislators are criminalizing everything from spitting on a school bus to speaking on a cellphone while driving. Criminalizing bad behavior has become the rage among politicians, who view such action as a type of legislative exclamation point demonstrating the seriousness of their cause. As a result, new crimes are proliferating at an alarming rate, and we risk becoming a nation of criminals where carelessness or even rudeness is enough to secure a criminal record.
There was a time when having a criminal record meant something. Indeed, it was the social stigma or shame of such charges that deterred many people from "a life of crime." In both England and the USA, there was once a sharp distinction between criminal and negligent conduct; the difference between the truly wicked and the merely stupid.
Think of marijuana as a parking ticket, a minor thing. It doesn't mean you're evil or have bad intentions or anything shameful.
Or for another perspective read this article:
Alcohol 'is more dangerous than ecstacy'
Here, the actual research data shows that marijuana is less damaging to our society than either tobacco or alcohol.
Don't sweat it. It's alright.
