Take care of your brains! You only have one

but people who are responsible and knowledgeable will be fine taking psychs at any age. I started reading about psychedelics when I was 13 and by the time I was 14 I was reading PiHKAL, psychedelic books and learning about organic chemistry.

Whether you should do psychoactive substances or not isn't always something you can affect with your own actions. It's not about how many books you've read or how responsible in general you are. There can be people who start using at a young age and turn out totally fine. But dude, we can ask if the psychedelic experience is even sensible when you're still a kid?

The depth of the experience can sometimes surprise even an older and more experienced person. The difference is, the older person has already (probably) done their schools, found at least some kind of place in this world, know a little bit better who they are, can organize their own life... a 15-years-old person who has a terrifying or overwhelming trip (it can be overwhelming and confusing even if it wasn't a bad trip) can have hard time coping with the experience, given that they're only figuring out who they are even when they're sober. Who are they going to talk to? Most of the 15-year-olds are damn scared that somebody will know that they use drugs. It's not like they can go to their parents and talk their mind. An older person can organize things so that they know an overwhelming experience isn't a problem. They can "recover" from the experience better because they have more stable view of themselves and more continuous life. They have life experience. A 15-year-old who has a crisis very likely can't hide it from their parents, they still have to attend school, they have only a little idea what is going on inside them (in the end, it's not something you can read from books) etc. It can be way too rough of a experience for a person that age.

Okay, not all the adult users have a stable personality, continuous lives or their things organized either. But you get the idea? In the end, everyone makes their own decisions, but there are certainly things that should be considered.

/r/LSD Thread Parent