I'm 18 now. I tried mushrooms for the first time I was 16.
To most naturally "conscious" and mentally healthy people, I offer this advice: try a psychedelic. Just once. In my experience, it seems like ONE experience is really all most people need. Sure, most people may be more experienced with these chemicals here, but I feel like it only takes one experience to catalyze an incomprehensibly positive, permanent impact on your life.
Psychedelics seriously changed my life in unbelievable ways. I used to be such a negative, "closed" person. Tripping showed me that there is unlimited potential in the world, and that you have the choice to harness the power of the universe and explore anything you desire, if you have the ambition.
Most people in society place themselves in a certain fixed position, with an artificially low ceiling on their life's possibilities. LSD and mushrooms blows a hole in this ceiling. It makes certain things "click".
As far as using psychedelics at a young age, I would say experiment with caution. I started slow - maybe tripping once or twice within the first year I tried mushrooms at 16. Then, I got seduced by their magical properties, and ended up tripping once every couple of weeks. I'm about 35 trips deep, but I've cut back drastically.
The true benefits from psychedelics are in the integration process. "Coming out" of the trip (not coming down... but coming OUT weeks/months after the fact) is the point when you take what you learned and either apply it or don't. Applying the concepts you learn is usually difficult at first, but you have to realize that psychedelic experiences are "real", even though they may have started from putting a chemical in your body.
After laying off psychedelics, I've been basking in the glory of the world. My last real trip was about 5 months ago. I was shown beauty, and while I was confused for a while when I was loading my body with molecules, I'm now taking the time to integrate what I've learned and applying it to my daily activity.
My life pleasures have increased infinity. My personal power has increased significantly. Everything is headed in a positive direction. I don't attribute psychedelics 100% to this, but it gave me the initial glimpse that almost ANYTHING is possible, within physical laws, and even then it's questionable.
Trip face. Write about it. Cherish it, and respect the experience/chemicals. Learn as much as you can before you do it, but realize that you know nothing until you've done it, and even then, you know very little. After all, we don't know what we don't know. Then integrate it. That's the key.