Letters to the Editor
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read the last paragraph, people...
Her question was not whether the mother has a problem, it was whether she should confront the mother about it.
This isn't about whether marijuana should be legal (it should), whether it's an effective pain medicine (for many people, it is), whether it's less addictive and less harmful than vicodin (it is), whether this woman has substance abuse problems (the LW seems to think so), or whether D.A.R.E. is a crock of shit (it is).
There seem to be some deeper issues in this family than the mother enjoying a joint every now and then (or even every day).
The parents hid her drug use from their son while sending him to a school with the D.A.R.E. program (which, incidentally, they could have publically objected to and probably could have gotten him excused from). They let him believe that they support what the policeman in the school says and don't tell him that Mom currently smokes a lot of marijuana right in his own home. So it comes as a big shock to him when he's 11 or 12--can you blame the kid for being upset and hurt?
Then, she baits her son. OK, she got the medical certificate and now her pot's legal--but why, if it were for her back pain, did she not do that as soon as it became an option? Why does she leave her pipes in the dirty laundry when she knows her disapproving son is DOING THE LAUNDRY? Why does she now smoke in the yard (where the neighbors can see) and call it "not smoking in the house"? That's a wee bit adolescent right there, not to mention passive-aggressive.
Then there's the issue of Dad. All we get of him is that he has a respectable job that pays the bills and that he's recovering from foot surgery. Oh, and when confronted with a teenager's threat to run away from home, he makes Mom move out for a few days. Uh...that's a little weird.
And then there's the younger son. We don't know what effect all this is having on him.
Is the 15-year-old being a judgmental little bastard. Oh, probably. He's 15. Does he probably feel like he has to be the adult in the family when he wants to be a kid and enjoy screwing around and rebelling and experimenting with mild recreational drugs himself? Probably. Cut him some slack.