My now 20 year old discovered cannabis at about 16 (I think)and by 17 it had started to control his life. I could see that and I battled to control him but to no avail. It didn't help that pretty much everyone (including his own father) tells you he will grow out of it, it's just a phase or it's 'only' cannabis so not a problem. Over the last 3 years he has stolen from me and his siblings, he has sneaked out at night and taken our car without a licence and then driven stoned, he has yelled abuse at us because we 'don't understand', spent days/weeks at a time missing and hangs around with 'mates' we've never heard of.
Since leaving school the longest he has held down a job is 5 weeks. And now he has been arrested for dealing - he was dealing to support his habit. It may just' be cannabis but I can assure you the addiction is real. Cannabis has taken away the beautiful child I once had and completely controls his life. I used to think legalising cannabis would be a good idea - I certainly don't now. The hardest part as a mother is to try and stop blaming yourself -but try as you might the questions haunt you, "what did I miss?", "what did I do wrong?", "what happened????". It's a daily battle!