Tripping at a young age? Read this

[Wetrippymayne]

Hey, I posted this elsewhere but decided to post It here as well because I just read a survey that said psychs are just as popular now as they were in the 60s. Hope this helps for harm reduction.

Hey everyone! I have recently come across various threads where people ages 14-18 have been asking "am I old enough to trip?". I just thought I would post my introspective analysis on the situation, considering I used my first psychedelic at the age of 16 and have since then had many experiences, both positive and negative. I am now 18, and looking back on my experiences, I thought it would be great to give my thoughts on the subject for harm reduction purposes.

I had my first experience my sophomore year of highschool at the age of 16 with magic mushrooms. The experience was overall positive, and from there I moved on to various NBOME chemicals, then to salvia in the summer. My junior year I experimented with 4-aco-dmt, and finally dmt. From the span of my highschool career, I ended up using over 30 different chemicals, both natural and man made.

In retrospect, I can say that without a doubt these experiences had a profound impact on my grades, my social life, and my views on the world. In a positive way, these experiences taught me valuable lessons, and ultimately changed my perception of both reality and my philosophy on life. While these experiences were positive in some aspects, there are consequences for enlightenment. My use of drugs distanced me from a lot of the other kids that I went to school with. It caused me to think in a different way than everyone else, and made me grow up faster than everyone else. This made me feel like a social outcast in a way, although I knew that other people couldn't understand what they hadn't experienced. In addition, these drugs affected me negatively because they killed some of my motivation. After using these drugs, my life was forever changed, and I had less motivation for school because I realized that there were more important aspects of life than just school. Tripping caused me to question every aspect of my life. It caused me to question authority, reject "the norm", and instead think for myself rather than believe what I was told.

Overall, I would say that it is best to wait to trip. I would say age 18 would be preferable, but 25 would be the best since that's when the brain stops developing. These drugs should not be taken lightly, and if you decide to use them, DO YOUR RESEARCH, AND PREPARE YOURSELF MENTALLY. If you have done both of these things, then you can probably get away with it with little harm(but who is to say?). If you do decide to trip, keep in mind that the most dangerous aspects of tripping aren't age itself, rather, it depends on the chemical you decide to take, how often you trip, and wether or not your experiences are positive.

From my personal experience, I would say NEVER trip more than once every 1-2 months if you are young(2months most preferable). Second, NEVER take RCs! These drugs don't have enough research on them, and coming from a lot of experience, I can tell you that the NBOME series has caused me most of the negative effects I have experienced, including HPPD. I wish I had never taken these chemicals, and would suggest sticking to the classics, such as lsa, mushrooms, mescaline, and lsd(if it's bitter, it's a spitter). Lastly, if you are going to trip, make sure the set and setting is perfect, you are prepared mentally, and you have some benzos incase things go badly. From personal experience, I can tell you that while bad trips are a learning experience, they also have lasting consequences. I had my first and only negative experience about 5months ago and since then I still have symptoms of HPPD, and every time I have tripped since then I have gotten some of the same visuals/flashbacks from my bad trip.

To conclude, tripping falls into the responsibility of the individual. It is your brain, and although tripping is (mostly) harmless to the mind and body, recognize that the consequences of using these drugs improperly can impact you for the rest of your life. If you trip, do so responsibly, and for spiritual/enlightening purposes only. If you are just looking to get high, smoke some weed or something and save these chemicals for your later years in life. Hope this helps, if anyone has any further questions to ask, feel free to reply

 

[theacidtest]

I didn't start using psychedelics until I was 18 and I would certainly frown upon anyone using them at an age younger than that. I find it irresponsible and quite probably detrimental to brain development. In all honesty you shouldn't even be using cannabis until you're at least 18 (possibly even older). But everyone's brain and body are their own responsibility, kids will be kids as they say. All you can do is present unbiased research and give some non-judgmental advice and hope others make the right choice.

 

[SONN]

you are the embodiment of the spirit of harm reduction

but seriously, it's great to see posts like this. Of course if we had shamans this wouldn't be an issue.

 

[afer]

Brain development never really stops. There are at least 400 new neurons born in the hippocampus each day irrespective of your age.
And while the rate of neurogenesis does decline with edge, it never ceases. In fact, as you are reading this post, thousands of new neural interconnections aka synapses are being established for varying reasons. Brain is constantly changing both on ultrastructural and biochemical levels, it never rests in peace

 

[sean107]

I started using psychedelics at 12 or 13 and I'd have to say that IMO nobody should be doing drugs that young, drugs in general has completely destroyed what my life could have been and psychedelics sure played their part. Especially NBOMe. Do I regret my drug usage? I'm not for sure but living life trying to "figure it out" whether you use anymore or not is exhausting and I haven't been able to stop trying since I had my first breakthrough.

 

[swilow]

OP, that's an excellent and well-thought-out post. You have a good insight on your own behaviour and motivations which many people never actually attain.

However, I did disagree with this statement:

If you trip, do so responsibly, and for spiritual/enlightening purposes only

I think enjoyable, recreational drug experiences that are taken with no deeper motivation are still perfectly valid. To me, psychedelic spirituality is slightly transparent and often inapplicable post-trip, but the pleasure of crazy tangential thought and conversation, strengthening bonds between individuals and the aesthetic joy of intense sensory experiences are as rewarding and as valid as the deeper spiritual trip. I think the whole use of psychedelics for spirituality is over-emphasised. For me, at least, my spirituality is everywhere at all times

 

[Brendles]

but the pleasure of crazy tangential thought and conversation, strengthening bonds between individuals and the aesthetic joy of intense sensory experiences are as rewarding and as valid as the deeper spiritual trip.

I super agree with this. The level of fluidity, empathy, and insight of conversations I have while tripping with people is off the charts, some of the best dialogues I've had, or the strongest and most meaningful epiphanies have been after taking the drug for the simple joys of being around people.

That being said, I've also had a few terrible experiences on it, so I've also come to have an abiding respect for how powerful of a substance it is.

 

[sexNcandy]

Your intentions are good but I personally think you glorify the use of psychedelics at an early age. The negative consequences you mention are unlikely to be viewed as negative by the type of person who has an interest in this as a teenager, and the positive ones you listed will probably sound quite desirable to most. However you do have some good advice in case teens do decide to go for it, and that's great, so thanks for posting this here. cheers

 

[cauldron]

Thanks for this post.

Growing up in a small city with much small town mentality surrounding myself, psychedelics were my key to exploring other ways of being, meeting interesting people, and in general, like you said... growing up quicker than usual and trying things differently in life than most of my peers .. IDK though, when I look at it honestly, I feel like my use at a young age was good in the beginning , however I definitely abused them (lookin at u 2c-b) and got sidetracked many a time.

I'd say go easy on yourself. Don't over do it and you should be fine.

I can't really preach though because 4 grams of dried cubensis at 16 years old was almost (no definitely) wayyy too much for my brain to handle. It's extremely difficult to convey in language the experiences now at 25 let alone 16 years of age. Everybody is different though. And it all depends on where you come from, and the way you were raised, where you're from, etc.. That experience at 16 was soooo profound though in so many ways in my life. It completely changed the trajectory of my life in positive and negative ways so there's not really a good or bad response from me....

 

[Xorkoth]

I also started using psychedelics at 18 (but weed at 17, I'm fine but I wish I would have waited til college like I did with psychedelics). I think 18 was a good age for me to trip, though waiting longer could have been better, who knows. I was in college, and my mind was primed for new experiences, and my first trip remains to this day the most influential event of my life, it created an instant paradigm shift and my mind being opened in a huge way, and that has never gone away, only slowly built upon a much healthier state of mind and belief system, that brings me an intense amount of joy and spiritual connectedness. Incidentally, I know few people who started doing drugs at 13/14/15 who had very positive outcomes from them at that time. And I know a lot of people who started that young. I feel that it's a bad idea to do drug when you're still a child. 18 is pushing it but probably okay. In an ideal world, people would wait til they're 25 or older, as the brain has reached adulthood by then.

 

[One Thousand Words]

Emotional maturity is just as important as physical brain maturity. Most psychedelics are a mental test and it just makes sense that the more life experience you have, the more you are able to take from a trip. Even simple things like not having to worry about being home in time or how to act in front of your parents makes a big difference to how you enjoy your trip.

 

[Frydea]

I did way too much acid my senior year, tripped multiple times a week sometimes. I also think some of the tabs I was getting may have been nbomes, due to a slightly metallic taste. That, along with my fairly regular mdma usage at the time, definitely caused me serious emotional problems at a very delicate time in life. That being said, the frequency in which I was using back then would probably negatively impact at least 90% of all people, so I can't say age was the only factor. If a 16 year old wants to try acid it most likely won't have any negative effects, you just have to moderate usage as well as keep your real life priorities first.

 

[an0n_m0n]

I started smoking pot at 17, and started doing psychedelics in college. Personally, I'd say I was probably too you for pot smoking, and I'd say the same of psychedelic use. Honestly it kind of upsets me to see kids 13 and 14 years old smoking weed and even trying to find "acid". I just think about my baby brother smoking at his age with his life experience and how it could trash his performance in school and probably get him caught up in legal issues.

 

[Brendles]

Wow, reading all of these makes me feel so inexperienced, I didn't start taking lsd until maybe three years ago and I'm about to turn 24. Part of me wishes I'd tried it sooner, but I think in terms of neurology I pretty much played it safe, I barely smoked pot when I was 17.

 

[Wetrippymayne]

It does depend on emotional maturity, but I think that comes with age. I think if you are emotionally secure and have a strong mind, limited exposure can definitely have positive results. I know that my first mushroom trip (age16) definately had a positive impact on me. However, once I got into the NBOME series I started noticing issues. The classic psychs are fine if used very occasionally, but I think that if kids are using substances they should stick with substances that don't have a strong toll on the mind... Pot, opiates, benzos, and the naturals... Not that I encourage kids to take benzos or opiates, because the potential for addiction is definately higher at a young age. I just think that these drugs don't have nearly as many negative effects on the developing mind IMO

 

[Wetrippymayne]

Also I'd like to add that you don't really know how strong your mind is/ how mentally stable you are at that age until you try psychs... I know plenty of kids that thought they could handle it, but once they actually tripped they realized that they were wrong.. People who haven't had an experience with psychs have no idea how strong they actually are, that's why I would suggest waiting till you are older. Having a bad trip at such a critical point in your life can be detrimental