One little packet addressed to my son arrived in the mail one summer day along with a large envelope containing his senior portraits. I opened the senior portraits and saw my son in a black tux — clean-cut, smiling and handsome. My son — let’s call him Liam — opened the other package and we found three tiny black cannabis seeds called Northern Lights, “because they are specifically designed to grow well in cool climates like ours,” my son explained.
As parents, my husband and I hadn’t come to our decision to allow the pot growing lightly. Mostly we worried about what Liam would do with the pot if it grew successfully. Would he be tempted to sell it? Would we inadvertently be turning him into a drug dealer? And what about the whole “gateway” theory? Would this lead to experimentation with other more dangerous drugs? We knew Liam smoked pot from time to time and we accepted that. But would this setup turn him into a “wake and bake” guy?
Liam’s persistence and curiosity convinced us. Ever since we gave him the green light to grow pot, he had been studying the most effective methods for planting and harvesting it. He said he’d give most of his harvest to his uncle, who liked to smoke from time to time. He also said he was mostly interested in the challenge of it, just to see if he could do it. I knew my son well and I believed his answers were truthful. Other high school seniors might be rebuilding a car engine; my son wanted to grow pot.
