Lucky you that live in a country/state where weed is legal 
I just need to get this out of my chest. I hope nobody minds. I tried to post under “Chat & introductions” but I’m not allowed to create a new topic there or to answer to existing ones (I wanted to answer to @Growernick about my favorite munchies, but couldn’t: it’s fruit Mentos and green apple juice).
Anyway, yesterday I had this parent meeting at my daughter’s school. My girl is 14, incredibly responsible (specially being my daughter) and she spends all her time reading books and manga, watching anime and painting. She’s a quite gifted artist. She does theater and extra drawing classes.
As soon as we got to the school they handed us out a piece of paper with several working places that will have open door days, so that pupils and parents can visit them in order to decide what to study at high school. Well, all of them were production plants or building sites. Don’t take me wrong, I have all respect for these professions and I’ve worked as pan-washer at big kitchens, unloading containers by hand and forklift, or as clerk at stores. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. But is it really necessary to try to drag the kids there? If a kid has the calling to do such a work he will know.
It’s a small town, but we have a big design center where more than 2000 people work, a huge photography studio where they make lots of ads and promotional videos, hospitals and university half an hour away… It has taken me years of subtle indications to make my daughter understand that she should study and try to work in something she loves, and she has decided to study art instead of something with a more secure economic future.
After the school manager made his speech and the teachers introduced themselves, a couple in their forties with red jackets, where it was written something that can be translated as “fielders”, came forth. The guy, half bold half shaven, spoke in a teenager register, which automatically gave the impression of an idiot who’s getting older and begins to suffer from Peter Pan syndrome. He explained that they were payed by the city to prevent the use of cannabis. He has been working in that area since 98, so he’s got a lot of experience and knows a lot.
After talking a bit and showing some pictures it became clear that their job is moving around town finding, photographing and collecting joint stubs and other cannabis consumption evidences. Of course, they inform the police of all their findings. He said such beautiful sentences as “We have spent so much money on the new multi-hall, and now some people gather around it by night an smoke cannabis. This is not what we spent so much money for!”
A parent asked him if one can identify if his kid smoke by the smell, and he had a whole speech about the differences of smoking inside or outside. I really had to stop myself from saying, first, that if you are worried, look your kid in the eyes: if he looks like a werewolf he’s been smoking, and second, that I would be much more concerned if my daughter started drinking alcohol, and I hope, in a bunch of years, to be able to share a joint with her.
Last, not least, the class main teacher told us to spy in our children’s computer. Amazing.
I hope I haven’t bored you, or gone against any rule by posting it here…
Cheers!
We already relocated here for 8 years ago, due to my job. I like where I work, my daughter loves it here and we’ve now bought a house, so relocating is not really an option now. Bigotry on drugs here is huge: alcoholism rates are high, but it is considered a sickness and socially accepted, while cannabis is included in the term “narcotics” without any nuance, and users are considered criminals. There is a lot of educating left to be done.
