[Etheryte]

I'm of very two minds on this topic. On one hand, it's widely accepted that most (not to say all) drugs leave a permanent mark on brains that are not yet fully developed, so teenagers who are often most curious about these things. Gated access is highly desirable in this context, especially as you can't take self regulation for granted. On the other hand, many of these substances show great promise in many clinical trials for a wide variety of issues, and decades of hostile legislation has kept all of that on the back foot. Openly sharing information about these topics can help people make more informed choices whereas those who came before them often had to go it blind.

[Forgeties79]

Yeah - I feel like we need a little bit more of a stripped down approach to drugs in the US. If you’re 18 or under, there need to be a lot of restrictions because we know for a fact that a lot of these things have a profound negative impact on brain development, and we also know that we don’t even fully understand the extent to which various mind altering substances can impact development. It’s just safer to say “no” until then as much as I am loath to endorse anything remotely akin to prohibition culture.

Teens will always get their hands on things so it’s up to parents to teach kids how to be safe around drugs and alcohol, but I know I personally will be really trying to communicate to my kids that they need to wait until they’re 18 to really start exploring all this stuff. I know they will before that, but as long as it’s a little experimentation here and there and not regular use I’ll consider it a success.

Once you’re past 18 or so, it needs to be all about education and general availability for most substances. Safe usage and community protections (such as not driving while intoxicated) should be the #1 goal.

[512]

> I know they will before that

I'm curious in what demographic/location context you're in to say that. As a teen I wasn't aware of anyone in my social circles experimenting with drugs and would estimate usage to be <10% and from very particular kinds of people.

[Etheryte]

In general, interpolating statistics based on your personal world view is often misguided. Almost fifty percent of all Americans have tried drugs at least once in their lives [0], you simply won't know about it because most won't speak about it openly. Statistically you're unknowingly acquaintances with a number of people who fall into that category. To quote [1]:

> By the time they’re in 12th grade, 46.6% of teens have tried illicit drugs.

[0] https://www.addictionhelp.com/addiction/statistics/

[1] https://drugabusestatistics.org/teen-drug-use/

[gavinray]

I'd done multiple hard drugs well before I had sex for the first time, in the USA.

I guess that speaks a bit to the culture and availability of both things here in the States.

[Forgeties79]

Teenagers (in the US) before they go to college pretty typically at least try weed and alcohol at some point. Whether or not they tell their parents is a different story entirely

[jjcob]

I was on a student exchange in the US at age ~15 and was offered both weed and alcohol. Funnily enough, weed seemed to be easier to get since dealers don't care about your age. For alcohol you needed to find someone older than 21 who'd buy it for you.

[Forgeties79]

Yeah I definitely knew more stoners in high school than kids who regularly drank. I think drinking is harder to hide tbh. Once you learn how to deal with weed smell you can usually be more discreet.

[justinrubek]

I'd be interested in seeing specifics on brain development. When are they "fully developed" or what is a sufficient point that they could be considered to be. What other things do we practice that should be gated around brain development?