• The effects of marijuana use at your age are hard to see. Just because someone seems fine doesn’t mean they aren’t being affected. A person’s brain is still developing into their twenties
• The science is clear that when teens use marijuana, it can impair short term memory, notivation and the ability to learn
• The effects of alcohol aren’t always easy to see. After drinking, someone’s grades might suffer or they might have a hard time sleeping at night
• While drinking or using marijuana, teens are more likely to make poor decisions and put themselves in unsafe situations like fights, car crashes or overdosing
• Kids who begin using alcohol or marijuana at an early age have more problems with dependence as adults
• What yor friends are doing isn’t what matters. What matters is that every time a kid uses illegal drugs, it puts them at risk – in lots of ways. Using alcohol or marijuana can affect your schoolwork, get you in trouble with the law, get you kicked off a sports team, make you do unsafe or harmful things, take away your motivation, or make you feel depressed.

• Any time you are in a situation like that, you can call me and I will come get you. If you don’t want your friends to know I’m coming to get you, let’s come up with a phrase that only we know. Like, “Yes Mom, I did my homework!” Let’s talk about what to do if I’m not available.
• Any time someone pressures you to use alcohol or marihuana, you need to stay strong and stay true to yourself and your choices. Let your friends know that you don’t need alcohol or drugs to have fun. If you need to, you can let them know that you face serious punishment at home for using alcohol or drugs.

All drugs, whether legal or illegal, have side effects. Some of the side effects for marijuana could be harmful to you because your brain and body are still developing. For someone who is very sick with an illness like cancer or epilepsy, a doctor and patient may decide the potential benefits of marijuana outweigh these risks. That doesn’t mean it’s safe for everyone to use

• The dosage of marijuana and its’ effects on people are unpredictable. People can overdose and experience severe side effects like anxiety, psychotic reactions or become very ill. People can also injure themselves because marijuana affects judgment, perception and coordination. Marijuana use can be especially harmful when a person drives under the influence of marijuana or combines it with other drugs.
• It is also possible to overdose from synthetic marijuana – and sometimes marijuana is laced with other drugs, especially if not from a licensed retailer. It’s not easy to tell what kind of marijuana it is, especially if you did not =buy it yourself. Edible marijuana in particular can be had to use in safe doses. Using too much can be very dangerous and make you really sick
• Much like alcohol, one of the biggest risks posed by marijuana is being too impaired to make good decisions. It can change how you think and react, which is why driving after using marijuana is dangerous. That’s true for youth and adults
• Marijuana can harm your brain, reduce your motivation, make you hallucinate, affect your ability to learn or remember information, and impair your judgement

• If you did: I did drink and/or use marijuana before I should have. The reason I regret it is because it put me in some risky situations and impaired by judgement. And now that I’m a parent the absolute most important thing to me is that you are safe and healthy. I’m not saying these are experiences you should never have. I just don’t want you to have them while your body is still developing, or when you could get in trouble. Not everybody who drank or used drugs when I was a teen turned out okay.
• If you didn’t: I didn’t drink or use marijuana. Even though I was curious and there was peer pressure. I knew that using drugs illegally wasn’t the path I wanted to take and that they could interfere with the activities that I enjoyed. I know that you are strong enough to make good choices. 
• It really doesn’t matter whether or not I did. It wa a different time. it was a different situation. What we want to concentrate on is now. This is about you and my expectations, hopes, and dreams for you as your parent.

Some people believe they drive better after using marijuana because they drive slower. The fact is, they drive slower because their brains are working slower. When brains work more slowly, risk increases because reaction times slow. Marijuana doubles your risk of being in a crash. That is why law enforcement officers in WA are trained to identify drivers who are high, and you can get a DUI for driving high

• WA  state’s marijuana law makes legal for adults over the age 21 to use marijuana. However, there are limits to how much marijuana an adult can possess
• It’s still illegal to smoke marijuana in public – just like having an open container of alcohol in public is illegal
• It’s illegal to drive while high
• It is a felony for parents to provide marijuana to their children
• It’s illegal to make marijuana outside the state of WA

• The law says marijuana and alcohol are legal for adults over the age 21. That is because adult brains are more developed. The science sows that marijuana and alcohol can affect the teen brain, learning to higher risk of addiction to these substances
• There is a ot of evidence that shows marijuana use can be harmfl to teens – including damaging their memory, motivation and ability to learn
• At your age, the part of your brain that controls decision making and judgment is not fully developed. So, your ability to make good choices is not as strong as it will be when you are in your mid-twinties
• Adults have more life experience and generally use alcohol and marijuana in greater moderation and in safer environments. When you are an adult, it will be legal and appropriate for ou to make these same choices
• Using alcohol or marijuana can affect your schoolwork, get you in trouble with the law, get you kicked off a sports team, make you do unsafe or harmful things, take away your motivation, or make you feel depressed

Consuming marijuana in any form can be dangerous to your health and safety. The “high” from edibles can be delayed, which makes it even harder for the user to know when they have had too much. Consuming too much marijuana could lead to overdose symptoms such as anxiety, psychotic reactions, increase blood pressure, or vomiting. People can also injure themselves because marijuana affects judgment, perception and coordination. Marijuana use can be especially harmful when a person drives under the influence of marijuana or combines it with other drugs.

I am happy to hear that you don’t want to use marijuana (or drink alcohol). Let’s talk about some of the ways you’d be comfortable responding if you are involved or pressured to use:

• You can tell them how you feel about it. You don’t need to judge them; simply explain that you don’t want to use alcohol or marijuana, and if you hang out together you’d rather do activities that don’t involve marijuana or alcohol
• You can also tell them that your parents have told you there will be serious consequences if you use alcohol or marijuana

• Both drugs are harmful in different ways
• Both of them can hurt our brain, your body and your future. Both of them can impair your judgement, and put you in risky situations. And if you take too much, they can both make you very sick
• Mixing alcohol and marijuana can also be a dangerous combination – harming your judgment and damaging your body more than just using one alone
• Honestly, it’s not a question of which one is worse. I want you to avoid anything that can harm you – whether that’s using tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or other drugs
• Both alcohol and marijuana are illegal to consume until you are 21 years old