I just found out my teenage son has been smoking pot. Luckily he is out of town right now, so I have time to think this out instead of whoopin his a$$ which was my gut reaction. Any advice on how to discipline him?

Wow, I don't have an answer for you - sorry you're dealing with it.

And, just what is WRONG with whoopin' his hide exactly?????

Boy, that's a tough one!!! Go for the throat!!!

well..y'all probly think im crazy... "Discipline" may not be the answer.. i damn sure know it never worked on me... try "education"

you have any friends who are cops? they are he best educators.. I had a dear friend who was a cop that took my son for 24 hours and showed him the "good , the bad and the ugly" as he put it."

not sure all my son saw... but he has a new found respect for things!!

Ground him and have along talk with him letting him know that you don't want a dope as a son ..my dad always told us growing up , it takes a dope to smoke dope

I would try and take him to a jail and show him where hes headed, maybe a drug rehab and maybe some people would share their lives..An ass whoopin wouldnt hurt. Stay on top of it, if you think hes using drug test him..God bless and good luck.I wish you the best...

Well Ill tell you one thing, I never smoked pot again at 13!When my mother found out she marched me to the police station and I got scared straight! I was there for 2 hrs listening to what pot can do to you such as wanting to go to "better" things such as coke.. I was scared shi*less !
Good luck to you in whatever you decide.

I agree w/ everyone who said let some cops scare him straight. Anything else will just make him do it behind your back and prob more frequently!
Good luck, sweetie-- it's a tough situation

Well, Im very young only 18 and I never smoked pot but I can honestly say every single one of my friends did, and I mean it's not horrible, I think you should discuss it with him and amke sure he knows the effects of it and what it could cause but yelling at him and grounding him is going to do nothing except want to make him do it more. I remember back when Iwas from like 13-17 anything that my parents grounded me for I did it again except worse just to piss them off. If your son is gonna somke pot, he's gonna smoke pot weather you yell at him or not, so I think the best approach would be to amke sure he knows what it is and what it can do and tell him he shouldnt do it and explain to him why, and even make up a bad story about it and one of your highschool friends that had a bad ending to scare him out of doing it or something.
But I think I can speak for most kids and say that grounding and yelling and smacking them is just what makes them want to do it more. And also when parents shelter there kids to much it can cause bad things when they finally turn 18 because they have so many freedoms and don't know how to handle them because when they were 17 they didnt have any so it can cause them to make bad/stupid decisions.aman

Thank you all for the wonderful advice.
I hadn't even thought about the "scared straight" :idea . Will talk with my friend who knows some cops.

Thank you for your input as well. It's good to have a point of view from someone around his age. I don't have to make up a story though, my favorite uncle died from drug and alcohol abuse. I will talk to him about that. Do you think having a cop show him what it can lead to would help?

lecturing will only bring defiance. have a conversation with him. get all the facts and present it in a educational manner, not attacking. when your point has been made and he understands.....teach him another thing about consequences.....make him own up to his actions...
rstrictions ,extra duties, loss of privaledges.
JMO.

Go ahead and whoop him.

so he understands you are serious.

Then you have to reach for the understanding that in this age...

He will most assuredly do it again as it is part of the comming of age ritual in most places.

As long as he has a positive role model he will turn out fine.

Try using understanding. Ask him why he felt the urge to smoke? Hitting or yelling is not being any better than him. Maybe what he needs to know that you are a friend as well as his mom. Look at it like this, if his friends got him to do it, shouldn't his friends be able to get him away and understand that he could get you and your household thrown into jail if caught.
I know when my parents hit me it just gave me more reason to leave sooner. And remember in today’s law you can and will more likely end up in jail.
Get information on the effects of pot smoking, sit down and try to work out a solution. Show him you care. You have internet access; use that to research the topic.

At his age, most of it is peer pressure.... "Monkey see... monkey do".... He might need a change of friends, places he hangs out, etc.

talk to him don't lecture. Punishment probably won't do much good. Give him choices. Let him know what could happen and where he might end up if he continues to use drugs. Also let him know all the positive things that can happen when he doesn't use drugs. Once he sees how much the positives of not using outweigh the negatives of using his choice becomes easy to make. Best of luck.

punishment on this one is probably a no no, he's experimenting, its normal, id educate him about harder stuff but honestly (depending on his age) i wouldn't be too concerned about pot. the most hes going to do on that is get the munchies and possibly pass out on the couch. set some rules about it though.

There are several issues as to why I am concerned about the pot.

1) He already lacks motivation

2) He has a learning disability which makes it hard enough for him to learn and become employable.

3) Depression and anxiety run in my family, and it has been proven that even occasional use of marijuana can induce episodes of mental issues in those predisposed.

I am a single mother and have worked my a$$ off to try and help him with his learning difficulties. I have made many sacrifices. I'll be damned if I let him throw it all away because of drugs! Fortunately I am moving out of the area, so getting away from certain friends might help. I might even do an occasional drug test, and if he choses drugs over my guidance, then I will have to let him start dealing with life on his own.

(((((((((((((Sharon))))))))))))))

No easy answers here, that's for sure. Every kid is different and is going to respond differently to different things. But, regardless, you do need to make it clear that it's completely and totally unacceptable in your home. And honestly, what's working with my son (at least so far, but he's only 13), have him watch a few episodes of The Osbournes. If ever there was an example of what drugs can do, that's it. My son says he doesn't ever want to be as stupid as Ozzy or Lindsay, Britney or any of the other celebs making asses out of themselves with substance abuse. He sees everyone laughing at them and doesn't want that to be him.

Whatever you do, though, I wish you the best of luck. You'll come up with the right solution for him, may be a little hit and miss at first but you'll find it

There is a program called scared straight pull it up online and get the info on that. I had a little brother inlaw that was "off the map" he started smoking pot and as a result of that got involved with the wrong people and needless to say it went straight down hill from that point. You are going to have to put the fear of God in him or this will lead to bigger things. At that age they don't listen to their parents anymore because they don't think we know what the hell we are talking about. Good luck!!!!! By the way the program is free So it is worth a shot they actually come and take them to jail for a few hours and I have no idea what other methods they use but it works...