Pubdate: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Laura Drake, CanWest News Service DAD PUTS MARIJUANA-SMOKING SON'S WII GIFT ON E-BAY Online debates over parenting skills and marijuana legalization have been sparked by a Waterloo man who put his son's Christmas gift for sale on e-Bay after he caught the 15-year-old smoking marijuana. The man, who goes by the e-Bay user name "k_lid" claimed on the auction site that he spent weeks scouring stores in order to buy Guitar Hero III for his son, Isaac, to play on his Nintendo Wii. After finally scoring a copy of the game, the elementary school teacher came home one day to find his son smoking marijuana in his backyard with two friends. Though Isaac was unaware of the gift, the father decided to put it up for auction as a way of expressing his disappointment in his son. "While I doubt this will keep him from doing pot again, I think it will make him think twice before doing illegal ... drugs on my property," he wrote on the web page for the auction, where he detailed the whole situation. As the price of the game skyrocketed, hundreds of people weighed in with their opinion of his parenting technique on blogs and on the item's page. Most people decried the seller for being overly harsh on his son, while a minority rang in with support for the father, who later wrote on the page that he appreciated the debate. "I think these discussions are fascinating and highly productive," he wrote. "I am glad to see both veteran parents and young adults getting involved in the discussion." The item ultimately sold on Dec. 10 for $9,100.01 to an Australian bidder named "aspire1700computer," who had also previously made a dozen consecutive uncontested bids on the item, single-handedly raising the price from $227 to $9,000. The seller wrote on the website that if the price of the game was pushed up because of uncontrolled bidding and the buyer did not pay, he would simply give the game to his son, who ultimately found out about the auction from his father. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek