I never smoked weed or did any drugs and barely drank, barely means I might have had 10 oz of alcohol total before the age of 22. My college graduation party I drank a lot, drunk, and have been drunk a fee times since then. I go for years and years without drinking. I say that just for background information when you read my perspective on smoking weed.
It’s ilegal herevin America, so nobody should be smoking it for recreation. I think it should be legal, but that’s beside the point. As far as trying it, I think age 12 and 13 are common ages for some kids to start trying drugs and alcohol, basically Jr. High age, but now they have 6th grade in middle schools, so I guess that easily could push the age down to 11. I don’t see much difference between pot or alcohol, except the smoke probably can cause some damage to the lungs if it is done all the time.
I worry about addiction with both. Science is saying our brains are not fully formed until about age 25, so if it affects our brain in any serious way (I doubt a few tokes to try it matter at all) we would need to say wait until after age 25 possibly. Most drug habits imply some sort of fucked up things in our lives and addicts tend to be stunted emotionally at the age they started abusing their drug of choice. Adolesence is a crappy, crazy, harrowing time for most people, and getting stunted emotionally in that turmoil is not a good thing. Not that people can’t recover and move forward and catch up, but it is a much harder road. I acknowledge that some people have bad genes and wind up addicted more easily than others, but it doesn’t change that it can hamper you emotional and psychological growth and make life harder. I also acknowledge smoking weed once in a blue moon in high school is not the sign of an addict, but why take the risk?
I’m going to answer not before 18 if it is legal, but I know that is unrealistic for a significant number of people who will be trying stuff in their early teens. Children who are elementary age and trying drugs and alcohol I find depressing and innapropriate. But, to talk out of both sides of my mouth, if a 10 year old tries a sip of their mom’s margarita it doesn’t bother me at all. It does bother me if she drinks them every night though. I am not even talking about giving a sip every night to her kid, just her child seeing their parent drinking every night bothers me. But, I am pretty conservative when it comes to drinking and drugging.