Letters to the Editor
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In the wise words of Bob Saget---
"Marijuana is not a drug. I used to suck dick for coke."
You cannot conflate the damage that alcoholic parents can inflict on those around them with the effects of marijuana on parenting. Alcohol addictions are vastly more destructive to ones relationships than daily weed smoking.
So what we're left with is this... this boy has developed a self-righteous streak that puts him in conflict with some aspect of his parent. This happens all the time, and it can happen for a variety of reasons. It can apply to anything from a parent's drug or alcohol abuse, to extra-marital affairs, to realizations about something unsavory that mom or dad does career-wise. So under which circumstances does the parent capitulate to the child's disapproval? An alcoholic father should get treatment, certainly... not a whole lot of people would disagree with that. But what if dad is a corporate lawyer for Baby Seal Clubbing Inc? Does he resign? If Mom likes to go play bingo or go to the dog track, and Junior is convinced (even correctly) of the evils of gambling, does Mom quit her hobby? Or is Junior just being insufferable?
There are a lot of things that drive apart children and their parents. Sometimes it's the parent's fault. But as often as I've witnessed that throughout my life, just as frequently it's the kid who's at fault in these rifts.
I was out of my mind when I was fifteen. I passed judgment on everything that breathed. If the world, or even just the people around me, had conformed to my personal ethic at that time, I would sorely regret it today. And I think the son in this letter may be similarly distorted in the way he views his world. The mom should simply wait for the son to get over himself.