Wallymom,
I guess I'd give you a very different answer today than I would have a few years ago. When my son was "only doing pot", I didn't even realize it. I thought he was MAYBE experimenting a bit - but nothing other than that. Boy, was I wrong. He was getting high almost every day. He was only a freshman in high school, and he began missing school constantly because he had no energy to even get out of bed. It was a combination of the marijuana and the depression. As I mentioned to DDD in her post - one feeds off the other. We opted to have our son enter a residential program back then for 4 months. We had to keep him safe. He was getting high all the time and running away. However, the facility he was in really didn't offer any real substance abuse counseling. When he got out, he stayed clean for a while, but fell into the drug trap within a year.
As Ant's mom said - they have to want help. This past summer, my son escalated from the pot smoking to crack cocaine. At that point, there is no looking back. He needed help immediately - or he was going to die or end up in prison.
As I said, a few years ago, I probably would have told you that your son probably could control the marijuana smoking. Now I know better - at least in my son's case. Of course, my son has obsessive compulsive disorder, so perhaps he gets more obsessed than others, but smoking marijuana daily is definitely a drug program any way you slice it. I definitely think your son needs treatment - whether it be intensive outpatient or inpatient. However, if he's not ready to admit he has a problem and needs help, no treatment in the world will stop him from getting high.
It's never easy to get someone to admit that they have a problem. So, be prepared -
Good luck to you and your son. Keep us posted.
Deb