This discussion unfortunately devolved into a debate about whether or not teenagers should be smoking weed and taking psychedelics.
As someone who did both throughout my teenage years to deal with some very fucked up life circumstances surrounding childhood abuse, I'll give my perspective here.
@cybrina, here is my honest opinion:
Psychedelic use generally has a minimum maturity level rather than a minimum age.
If you can be smart with your use, go into a trip with a good headspace, trip in a good environment
(This means only doing it with one or two people who you know very well and who are aware that you are tripping. Generally, if you're doing it at a parent's house where you have to hide your use from them, that's a recipe for a bad trip), etc. then you should be fine with
moderate doses taken occasionally.
This should go without saying but - Don't trip at school, don't trip with people you don't know well, don't trip with your parents in the other room (unless they know that you are tripping and are okay with it), don't trip if you have something you have to do the same day or the day after.
Prepare for your trips, try to use psychedelics to improve yourself and heal in order to get the most out of them, and have respect for the substances that you are taking.
Do this, and your experiences will be greatly rewarding.
As for weed, that is a trickier subject.
Scientific evidence seems to indicate that cannabis has a moderately negative effect on brain development & a temporary detriment to cognition that both increase significantly with frequency of use.
We're not going to convince anyone to quit entirely here, and I'm not going to try to.
But it may be a wise idea to exercise moderation until your 20s.
If you can avoid using daily and keep your dosages moderate (Especially with edibles), then you will probably find the most benefit and the least detriment from weed.
I watched many friends destroy academic opportunities, quit hobbies, waste tons of money (spending $10/gram will drain your bank account very quickly), and become very boring people because they were just smoking way too much weed when they were teenagers.
They aren't doing so well now that we're in our early 20s.
These people generally had past/current trauma that they were trying to escape.
Oftentimes, they would have been far better off if they just kept the weed to the weekends, got on medication, and got therapy 1-2x a week.
It's up to you to decide what balance works best for you and your lifestyle.
Just try to exercise moderation where possible.
bluelight.org
