Gldm, that was a very thought-provoking post. I enjoyed reading it. However, I'm still going to stick to my opinion that the vast majority of young teenagers shouldn't be using psychedelics. Of course there are some teenagers that are very mature for their age; I used to think I was one of them (I wasn't the mini-Leibniz that you were at 11, Gldm, but I wasn't exactly a simpleton :D). Please remember, though, that just because a child is intelligent doesn't mean that they are ready to be using strong psychedelics -- it might even be worse for them than a less intelligent child, due to the sheer power of their own mind.
There are very few teenagers that I've met, even having gone to one of the hardest and most prestigious prep schools in my state, that were actually more mature than their peers. Intelligence does not equal maturity; maturity is gained through life experience. There surely must be a few exceptionally mature teenagers that could easily benefit from psychedelics; but then again there must be a few exceptionally mature youngsters that would be irreparably harmed by using psychedelics. And furthermore, how could one ever know how they would react to psychedelic drugs? I think it would be most prudent to leave such a powerful and unpredictable variable out of the equation until ones brain had physiologically developed to a more stable point (such as is reached in early to mid adulthood). Relative to this point, I feel the same way about other, more popular, drugs such as amphetamines which are being given to kids both with and without their consent. Its not right, and I'm glad you brought up that point. I'm certain that medicating children with amphetamines and other powerful drugs will hinder a child's mental development more than most people realize.
There are better ways for young people to work through their issues than by haphazardly ingesting powerful drugs. Parents should know this; children and teenagers should be taught this. But unfortunately, they aren't.
Perhaps I'm not coming from a place of purely deductive, logical reasoning; in fact, I would venture to say that my approach on this issue is more based on what probability theorist E.T. Jaynes called intuitive, or plausible, reasoning -- which in most cases closely approximates the conclusion of the deductive approach, although is arrived at through differing processes. It seems very plausible that most young teenagers would be better off waiting until they are older to use psychedelic drugs. I'm pretty sure I could represent that probabilistically if I could be fucked to do the work.
I can tell you this, though: the long-lasting changes that psychedelics have caused in my personality (although positive), are much too drastic to be forcing on a young person. I think if I had used psychedelics when I was younger, I might have been very scared and disconcerted; possibly even gone crazy, or worse. It takes a certain level of maturity to be able to handle the complete de-construction and re-assembly of reality -- therefore, I think its safe to generalize that such pursuits are best left to folks with a bit more life-experience.
you? awesome, thought provoking post. 
