I take care and live with my niece. My sister has a drug habit and her husband is total trash. I've only started taking care of her about four months ago. Anyways, she's 15. Very shy and awkward at school as far as I know, and grades have been dropping. Found out she's been shitting on me and has been doing to a 17 year olds house every week to smoke weed for the past few weeks and recently is slowly weening off meet and animal products and is becoming vegan. She's seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist for generalized anxiety and depression. She's become a bit more outgoing and a tad more sociable since the weed and veganism, I think she's taken an interest in soul healing, chakra, aromatheraphy and all that hippie bullshit. What should I do? She's become overall a much better version of herself but I don't know if this is good for her in the long term. I'd like a second opinion on this.
>>16983828
I would do whatever is necessary to get her to stop using weed. I have nothing against weed on principle, it's just generally better for growing kids if they're not drinking, smoking, or using drugs. Plenty of time for that when she's an adult. If she has anxiety and depression, that's probably why she's using weed. Is she on meds? They might not be working very well. That being said, you don't want to overmedicate her. If she needs meds, she needs them, but the less foreign substances in her body, the better.
As for all the hippie bullshit, I would let her do it, as long as she's not hurting anybody or trying to use hippie healing on someone who needs actual medical attention or something. It's probably filling an emotional need for her. With her parents being like they are, she probably feels a huge lack of control in her life, and new age stuff provides a feeling of comfort and control. She will probably grow out of it as she works on her issues in therapy. If she doesn't, the worst that'll happen is she'll become one of those ladies who wears green eyeshadow and too many rings and always tries to get you to try new herbs and shit. And you don't really have that much control over who she decides to be when she grows up anyway.
As for the veganism, keep a close eye on her health and appearance, and lay down the law if she starts to look sickly or show signs of nutritional deficiency. It takes a lot of work to have a nutritionally complete vegan diet, and even more so if you're still growing. I would encourage her to learn all she can about eating healthy, but you should strongly encourage her to try being vegetarian or pescatarian instead of vegan. Maybe try to work that in with the grades - if she gets high marks, you can buy her some vegan treats as a reward or give her a "get out of meat free" pass or something.
>>16983828
You've done all you can now go out get yourself a fuck
Lay down the law on the drug abuse. Watch to make sure she's getting proper nutrition as a vegan.
The rest, while perhaps distasteful, is not all that concerning. Just make sure she's not dumping too much money into it, or preventing people who need actual medicone from getting it.
Another vote against the weed.
It's bad for adolescent brains, it's bad for self-medicating depression and it's fucking terribad for long term anxiety.
There's scientific evidence for all these things, but I suspect if she's hanging with a hippy crowd they will respond to science as if it's a propaganda war.
Ask her to start as a vegetarian at first and then transition like a year later to vegan. It's difficult to get the diet to work and things can seem good in short term whilst not being sustainable long term.
>>16983916
>With her parents being like they are, she probably feels a huge lack of control in her life, and new age stuff provides a feeling of comfort and control.
Thiiiiisssss. Could not agree more. Don't try to take it away from her unless you have a sure bet alternative that will give her a sense of autonomy and agency in life.
So in conclusion, if you want to convince her to stop the weed I think it would be best to let her make that decision herself, let her have some control.
Appeal to a sense of nature and balance or ask her if it might interfere with her psychologists treatment and psychiatrists medication.
Good on you for helping her.
>>16983828
Weed when started in the midst of friends(as opposed to an adult that smokes once in a while to relax or something) almost always ends up bad. Specially when started at an early age. I speak from experience of my partners brother, his brother and almost all his friends are now braindead junkies and it all started with seemingly innocent weed once in a while.
I wouldn't know how you'd go about stopping her from weed but don't do anything that make turn on you, she's still the one responsible for her life, if she really doesn't want to stop she won't and it'll only worsen your relationship if you try and force it.
Regarding veganism everyone will tell you it's hard to be nutritionally balanced and whatever but trust me, IT'S NOT.
I've been a vegan 6 years and I never ever had to even think about "keeping nutritional balance" or even eating well, and be mindful that I don't even eat well at all(most of my meals are sandwiches and shit done on the spot), and yet mine and my partner's(also vegan) blood tests are always perfect, and my health only improved after becoming vegan.
So unless she is one of those kids who doesn't like or eat vegetables/fruits/rices at all you wont have any problems there.
In fact you could actually use veganism in your favor to keep her off drugs. If she ever gets to turn vegan, confront her and make her research with the fact that by doings drug she is also supporting animal abuse(animal testing, animals used as mules for transport and shit) and she probably stop if she's fully committed to being vegan.
Although you have to be the judge that, try and find her reasons to stop with animal products or how "passionate" she is for animal rights and shit before doing that. I doubt it would work if she doesn't have the drive to go fully vegan, she probably won't have the willpower to give up drugs too for that reason alone.
Times like these make me feel so glad I'm not part of a white trash dysfunctional family.
Feels great, man.
>>16985370
>Weed when started in the midst of friends(as opposed to an adult that smokes once in a while to relax or something) almost always ends up bad. Specially when started at an early age. I speak from experience of my partners brother, his brother and almost all his friends are now braindead junkies and it all started with seemingly innocent weed once in a while.
correlation =/= causation
even so marijuana is bad for the adolescent brain, stress to her the importance of waiting just a couple more years. also the importance of getting good grades so she can go off to college or a tech school or some continued schooling.
i wouldn't freak out about a j every now and then, maybe 2-3 a month.
also, make sure she does research, most vegans/vegetarians are deficient of iron and could use way more protein.
and flip fucking shit if she starts buying all sorts of clothes with pot leaves and shit. smoking isn't a way of life but many kids try to make it that way and end up doing all sorts of junk and getting hooked because they have no guidance and only care about getting fucked up
>>16985434
>correlation =/= causation
yeah you're right, i just meant that with friends it's easier to get irresponsible and start doing it way to often.
>most vegans/vegetarians are deficient of iron and could use way more protein.
Nah dude, in fact it's the other way around, and literally no one in modern society has protein deficiency.
>>16985434
Not a single one of the 11 vegans I know have had ANY kind of deficiency, myself included, be it iron, protein, or whatever shit people usually say vegans lack. Also, I just eat soy milk with cereals half my meals (...I like it) and I can pack muscle like every other guy.
>and flip fucking shit if she starts buying all sorts of clothes with pot leaves and shit. smoking isn't a way of life but many kids try to make it that way and end up doing all sorts of junk and getting hooked because they have no guidance and only care about getting fucked up
Exactly this. When they start getting into the lifestyle they won't be able to leave, their friends will be potheads, their possessions are gonna be about weed, the music they hear is gonna be about weed (occasionally Jamaica or Babylon, i.e. weed). And weed's bad for her health, people who say otherwise are wishful thinkers.
>>16985473
This. She would have to try in order to be protein deficient.
