The problem of different ages for different drugs is a difficult one...
Heroin is the best example I can think of...heroin and other drugs that are that addictive shouldn't be used by people who are too young or who are inexperienced with drugs in general.
The reason for this is that to control addiction you need to be able to reflect on your own thoughts in a deep and effective way...you need to be able to see what the drug does to your thought processes and to identify thoughts which are leading you into situations where you might have problems with your drug use, and which wouldn't be there if you had never used an addictive drug. Heroin warps your thoughts so that you think about doing more heroin...it can barge it's way into your train of thought to replace whatever you were thinking about with "Boy, heroin sure is grand." Someone who is young and/or inexperienced with drugs is less likely to be able to identify these sorts of thoughts and might act on them more readily than someone more used to self-reflection.
You develop this through two things: emotional maturity and drug experience. Using drugs makes you reflect on what's going on in your head more and to identify where your thoughts are really coming from. Emotional maturity is something that comes with age and life experience.
Pills on the other hand aren't physically addictive, but they are one of the most damaging drugs you can take (heroin isn't neurotoxic...). Also, because a person's first pill is often such a drug epiphany (especially if they're not experienced with many other drugs), people tend to go nuts on them, espeically if they're young. So should people be allowed to take pills before they're allowed to take heroin, or the other way around?
It's a tough question.
Heroin is the best example I can think of...heroin and other drugs that are that addictive shouldn't be used by people who are too young or who are inexperienced with drugs in general.
The reason for this is that to control addiction you need to be able to reflect on your own thoughts in a deep and effective way...you need to be able to see what the drug does to your thought processes and to identify thoughts which are leading you into situations where you might have problems with your drug use, and which wouldn't be there if you had never used an addictive drug. Heroin warps your thoughts so that you think about doing more heroin...it can barge it's way into your train of thought to replace whatever you were thinking about with "Boy, heroin sure is grand." Someone who is young and/or inexperienced with drugs is less likely to be able to identify these sorts of thoughts and might act on them more readily than someone more used to self-reflection.
You develop this through two things: emotional maturity and drug experience. Using drugs makes you reflect on what's going on in your head more and to identify where your thoughts are really coming from. Emotional maturity is something that comes with age and life experience.
Pills on the other hand aren't physically addictive, but they are one of the most damaging drugs you can take (heroin isn't neurotoxic...). Also, because a person's first pill is often such a drug epiphany (especially if they're not experienced with many other drugs), people tend to go nuts on them, espeically if they're young. So should people be allowed to take pills before they're allowed to take heroin, or the other way around?
It's a tough question.
