I'm with you 100% Signorina. I just wish young kids would hear something like this from ex-burnouts rather than from parents. In your young PCs case, it seems to have registered, but for many kids, they think it'll never affect them, and that mom & dad are imbeciles living in the dark ages. There's also plenty of stuff on the internet which completely refutes what you wrote, and that is what my difficult child used to quote all the time.
Ironically, when he went away to college as a freshman this year, he was in a very challenging school, and we fully briefed him on how unprepared he was. He bombed his first semester, smoked dope all the time, and barely limped thru with-a 2.0
He was not permitted to come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, he got no presents from us, and no money other than his cafeteria card. We got zero financial aid and this school is too expensive to screw up with DHs hard-earned money. I cut off all contact with him, husband would text him once in a while, his FB is protected, so we can't see what's going on there. His sister doesn't even talk to him, she's so disappointed. Anyway, he told us he hasn't smoked pot in months, has been hustling at school, but realizes that the last 3 yrs. in HS when he did absolutely nothing have left him unprepared. He's not used to the discipline of studying, organizing himself and taking himself seriously. He's socially retarded - a 13 y/o in an 18 y/o body.. He realizes we're not going to give him a dime, so now he's working hard, but it may not be enough. He may not be able to keep up, and he knows it and he sees clearly now that he traded 3 important years of his life and we were right all along. He pleaded to come home on spring break last week, and promised to take a drug test when husband picked him up (he passed), and he ate dinner with-us every night, was so grateful to have a clean room and comfortable bed, delicious cooked food, privacy, clean bathroom, that he nearly lost his cookies. He couldn't apologize enough to us. Now I'm a pessimist, so even though he passed the two tests we gave him while here, I know he could've smoked spice, which we can't buy a test for, and he could've done mushrooms, or salvia. He appeared straight and clear-eyed the whole week. He did schoolwork. He has contacted his sister via phone and was sending her pictures. He kept his room clean and made the bed, did laundry and tidied up the bathroom. When we drove him home, he was telling us sincerely how grateful he was to be able to come home and how much he missed us, and how he messed up. So the jury's still out, but he sure looks repentant to me. For now. He could be setting us up. Excessive pot use and stupidity took 3 years of our lives, and may have permanently affected whether or not he can pursue the career he's always wanted. Pot IS a gateway-- to difficult child ruination, in my opinion.