What I now understand about mothering is that, at the end of the day, children only want to feel safe and they want to feel loved. I want to make sure my children are advocates for themselves. The last thing on earth I want to do, if my child says, “Mom, I want to smoke weed,” is make her feel ashamed for being honest with me. Because open communication is the key to a beautiful relationship, whether that’s friend to friend or mother to daughter.
If my daughter came to me and said, “Mom, I want to smoke weed,” I would want to have a conversation with her to understand, like, “How did you learn about it? Have you tried it before? Are your friends doing it? How are they doing it? Are you rolling a joint? Have you smoked out of a pipe? Are you vaping?” Because I think there’s some health consequences of that. I don’t want my 12-year-old daughter smoking weed. That’s just developmentally inappropriate for her, for her lung growth and for her brain development and all that stuff. But I don’t want her to feel embarrassed talking to me about it because she’s going to do it anyway. We all know how we were when we were teens.
When I think about how cannabis has been used in the past for medicinal reasons, to help with anxiety, to help with creativity, to help with community or bonding, it has unlocked so much magic for people. But it’s gotten a bad rap. This flower can really help so many people if used correctly and in the right dose and in the right strain. Everyone’s journey with cannabis should be very customized based on the type that you take and how that impacts your chemistry. People should be open to exploring and know that there’s not one solution for all. The key here is in choice and in observing yourself and how you interact with this powerful plant. And making sure that you are policing for yourself what works for you.