xguynameddavex said:
and slayer, alright, so weed has solved one problem, what i am talking about is the kids on the street, not the old people in the hospital, lol.
For your information, I have a very close friend who suffers from MS. She's 23, and certainly isn't "in the hospital", she lives her life as much as she can regardless of her disability. However, to live a full life, she smokes Cannabis to ease the pain and to enable her to do what you or I consider to be normal activities. Her Doctor is fully aware of this, and is happy with it, as the other medication she has tried, has not had the same effect.
and wine is proven to "clean out the bloodstream."
Indeed, but it's still alcohol, is it not?
but what i am talking about is how many teens do drink irrasponsably. Why would teens drink in the first place, if it wasnt to get drunk? they wouldnt have just one, theres no point to that, weres the rebeliashness<made up, in that?
Yes, it is for the rebellious factor. But if they're brought up by their parents to know the effects, dangers and their limits to alcohol, where's the need to rebel and get senselessly paralytic then?
Going through only personal experience, I was brought up in a house where drinking was an open subject. It happened alot round here. 24 hour long parties, random stay overs, pubs, biker clubs, local festivals, anything you can imagine, which I'm sure a few certain members here would see as an irresponsible upbringing. If I wanted to drink at home when I was younger (12 -14ish), I was allowed to, obviously within reason. If I did drink at home, someone would be watching over me making sure I didn't go too far. Because I was allowed to drink at home, I didn't feel the need to lay on street corners, drunk as a ferret and unable to move. If I wanted to drink at an adult friends house, I was allowed to.
By the age of 16, I had been drunk. I'd experienced hangovers, and went to my first proper festival, Download ('04). While there, I was allowed to go do anything I wanted. Get drunk, go wander around the festival on my own, drink with people I'd never met before etc. I was allowed to do such a thing because I knew, to an extent what I was doing, I knew my limits and yes, I got drunk each night I was there, but not once did I get myself to the state where I lost control. I was allowed to do such a thing because from my parents experience, going to a metal-music orientated festival was one of the safest public places to be, because it's an environment where everyone looks after eachother, and everyone there was there to have a laugh, have some harmless fun, enjoy the music and have a drink or two. Since then, I've been to many festivals and gigs, both local and large, including Download again in '05, and I intend on going again this year. As I said, to some here, what would be seen as an irresponsible upbringing. Have I ever got into a drunken fight though? Nope. Have I ever had to be taken home by the police because they found me as a drunken mess in the centre of town? Nope. Ever had my stomach pumped? Nope. I could go on, but you get the idea. Now I'm the supposed "big 18". Do I get completely legless in pubs? Nope. I'll drink, but I'll do it responsibilty.
My point is, alcohol is relatively safe to teens if they're brought up with the right attitude towards it. I wasn't guarded from what happened to people if they drank too much. I wasn't told "alcohol is the most dangerous thing you could ever do", and from that, I learnt what happens if you drink irresponsibly, and I learnt to respect it. Where as, as Roots point backs up, if a teen is brought up in a strict, non-alcohol use household, chances are, they will rebel, and will drink for the thrill/kick of it, because out of their house, they can. But they won't know what they're doing, and THAT'S where accidents, fights, and deaths, happen. The same thing applies to Cannabis. If you're aware of the dangers and the effects before you even touch it, then if you ever do, you're gonna be a hell of a lot more careful with it. Chances are you'll have seen what happens to people who over use it, and again, if you want to smoke it, you'll make sure you don't ever get yourself to that extent.
In no way am I saying Alcohol and Weed are harmless, because I'd be a warped, stupid idiot to do so, and I'm sorry to hear about the mates you lost because of them. However, it's in our society, has been for years, and in no way am I saying that it's right, but nothing in the near future can be done about that. It's a shame, it really is, but the best thing people can do is if they have kids, don't shield them from the outside world. If a child is hidden from the real goings on in the world, when he or she gets to the legal drinking age and wants to go and use it, they be a danger to themselves, and everyone else around them.