Sol Duc,

Your thesis seems to be that whether something is legal or illegal is the driving factor in making choices. If so, it's wrong. Tobacco is legal, but a very poor choice. I raised two daughters and stressed that choosing to smoke cigarettes meant choosing to stink like sh!t and set oneself up for heart and lung disease. Choosing to smoke weed meant accepting some probability of getting busted and starting a rap sheet that thinking people wouldn't give a damn about. I also told my girls that drinking alcoholic beverages includes drinking poison, and that a 150 pound person can process about 1 oz per hour, which is why I drink in moderation except for the occasional party. I never told them to make choices about smoking cigarettes, weed, or drinking booze on the basis of legality because that's a secondary basis at most. My kids are adults now and have fortunately acquired the habit of making informed decisions. That's far more important than choosing to smoke weed at 16 or not.

Sg