Social Question

KNOWITALL's avatar

How young is TOO YOUNG to smoke weed?

Asked by KNOWITALL (14105 points ) 2 months ago

Apparently Miley’s turning people onto the herb per the article below. My niece is 14 and says all the kids are doing it as young as eight and nine years old.

What say you jellies?

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46 Answers

ragingloli's avatar

The same answer as to the question “How young is too young too smoke?”.
(It is 18 in Germany.)

livelaughlove21's avatar

Only adults should be able to make that decision. I’d say 18, just like purchasing cigarettes.

And any age is the wrong age to smoke weed if it’s illegal. Whether it should be legal doesn’t really matter when it’s not.

Oh, and Miley Cyrus should be sterilized. Please don’t let that girl reproduce.

TheRealOldHippie's avatar

@livelaughlove21 The Thought of Miley Cyrus reproducing and more of her being turned loose on the world is a scary thought!! It would definitely mark the beginning of the end of civilization and life on this planet as we know it.

Seek_Kolinahr's avatar

My hubby’s certain he had his first contact high at three or four. But then, he was living in a commune in the early 70s.

I agree with above posters: anything before 18 is too young. Of course, realistically, it’s probably closer to 13, when kids are nosy enough to look for their parents’ stash, and ballsy enough to steal it and share with their friends.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

It messes with the brain chemistry, some kids can handle it, some can’t. Some of the kids I knew should have never touched the stuff, it turned them into waste cases. Some adults can’t handle it either. So I don’t think there’s a good answer. And if Miley reproduces it think it’s the beginning of the Apocalypse.

YARNLADY's avatar

Only adults should be making decisions to use mind altering, lung damaging substances in their bodies.

I am also very skeptical about the use of stimulants and various medications for ADHD.

KNOWITALL's avatar

Okay, let me ask this please. How many of you reading this smoked under 14 and tell me about any and all repercussions.

Seek_Kolinahr's avatar

Me? I’ve never done it.

My husband admits to breaking into his dad’s stash at around 12. He’s still alive.

YARNLADY's avatar

My parents were both chain cigarette smokers, so I was born and raised under the influence of that, but I never smoked weed or anything else, even when I lived in a commune.

Oh, wait, once I got drunk and smoked a cigar. I had no ill effects of either.

Seek_Kolinahr's avatar

Ew. I tried a cigar once, because I actually kind of like the smell. Took me hours to get that awful taste out of my mouth. Never again.

KNOWITALL's avatar

I tried it at age 14 with my girlfriend, wasn’t impressed, didnt do it again until 17–18 somewhere around there. I like cigars and cigar smoke, too.

uberbatman's avatar

I was 14, and then I quit because I saw how bad it was affecting my friends(turning to typical burn outs) so I quit for 4 years until I believed I was mature enough to handle it.

marinelife's avatar

Very bad. their brains are not formed.

livelaughlove21's avatar

@KNOWITALL Never done it. Never will. Same goes for my husband.

I think pot is one of those things that, by the time you’re “old enough” to do it, it’s not cool anymore.

From Daniel Tosh…

“Hey you want to get high?” No. “Why not?” Because I’m not in the 7th grade, and I have things to do. Why don’t you grow up and do coke like an adult?

Harold's avatar

No age is acceptable. Simply a stupid thing to do.

gondwanalon's avatar

Do you mean how young is too young to poison your lungs and body was smoke?

rojo's avatar

Started at 15. Was able to get it without any problem off the street. Parents never had it/did it. Turned out ok except for my tastes in music. BUT I was never a heavy user, did not need to have it every day 3x a day and the like. Had friends who were. All turned out to be well adjusted but some were not successful in the capitalist accepted sense of the word. Lost one friend in drug related incident. Have lost several to illnesses and cancer, two to car wrecks and one to a suicide that was caused by depression.

Don’t believe in the gateway drug crap. Never have, never will. You will find a way to do what you want if you want it bad enough.

talljasperman's avatar

Under 120 and a fine if someone gets second hand smoke.

Adagio's avatar

I was 13, stopped at age 20 except for a very brief flirtation when I was 39, it didn’t last, I had forgotten about the paranoia, no thanks.

deni's avatar

I wish someone would just smack Miley Cyrus in the face really hard and knock out like one or two teeth. No serious injury, but enough to knock some sense into her. God, she is a moron. I simply hate her and cannot understand for the life of me why anyone supports her. We are just encouraging her behavior.

That being said I think at least 18 is a good age if there were going to be an age. However, she is right when she says that if someone wants to do a drug, they will do it. That’s why the war on drugs is pointless, completely! I smoked weed for the first time at 16 or 17 which is pretty late, I think, compared to a lot of people. I don’t regret it but I also don’t have addiction issues and I have a very touchy body, so too much of anything will make me feel shitty and I’ll stop doing it. A lot of people are not that way, and abuse any substance they can get their hands on. Here in CO weed will be legal in just a few days to the public and I believe you have to be 21 to purchase. That seems okay to me.

zenvelo's avatar

I first smoked weed at age 12, occasional use through high school, regular, sometime heavy use while in college, then back to occasional use from age 25 to 30. None since.

It is not anywhere as debilitating as the alcohol I started drinking at age 12.

If it were up to me, I’d be much more tolerant of a 14 year old occasionally smoking than an 8 or 9 year old. The younger kids don’t have any real idea of what is happening to them, and cannot comprehend how reality is shifting and being distorted.

peteb's avatar

There does seem to be a risk that cannabis can precipitate mental illness in some people, especially when they are in their teens (or younger). It’s very difficult to prove the connection absolutely or to quantify the risk, but there is good evidence that it exists – and even one ruined life is a tragedy.

Then again, smoking, drinking alcohol or driving are probably more dangerous!

JLeslie's avatar

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.

jazmina88's avatar

it helps fibromyalgia and disk disease. Yes, I grew up in the 70s and it’s not a big deal to me. It’s better than drinking or doing a ton of pills.

I’m just a old hippie trying to get along in this big world.

JLeslie's avatar

@jazmina88 What does that have to do with smoking a joint at age 8? I’m not attacking you for not answering the Q, I go off on tangents all the time, but I am wondering what your answer is to the question at hand considering you think weed is no big deal. Do you have an age minimum. Do you feel it is ok for parents to smoke weed in front of their kids and even let them have a try like some parents let young children try a sip of wine?

Cupcake's avatar

Sounds uptight, but I say 25 based on the maturity of the prefrontal cortex.

Valerie111's avatar

I did it once in high school and hated it. Then I did it a few times in college. It was okay but definitely not my thing. I think anyone younger then 16 is too young.

KNOWITALL's avatar

Thanks everybody. Just keep an eye out for the eight and nine year olds in your neighborhood…lol

Seek_Kolinahr's avatar

^ I actually asked my husband to give me a number.

He says he couldn’t “recommend” for other people, but he says he remembers trying weed at a very young age (possibly eight or nine) and was smoking regularly with friends in middle school – for him, seventh and eighth grade, so 12, 13 years old.

It was apparently really common in his part of town (the worse areas of Danville, Illinois). The richer kids waited until high school, but played with harder substances.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Seek_Kolinahr I believe with the popularity of rap culture, it’s far cooler now to indulge at a younger age, at least that’s what my niece is telling me.

uberbatman's avatar

” I believe with the popularity of rap culture,” scapegoat.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@uberbatman If you’re in better touch, tell me what you think then.

uberbatman's avatar

@KNOWITALL I don’t think this generation is using much younger than yours was, at least in my experience from talking to people in their 40’s. It just seems that as we get older, we see things the younger generation does as “omg they’re so young” and forget the fact we did the very same things ourselves at that age.

If there is however anyone to blame for kids doing drugs I’d throw that one toward our education system as far as drugs are concerned. You don’t keep kids off drugs by teaching a program of propaganda, in the end people think it’s all bullshit, even the parts where the program may have been telling the truth. Get rid of D.A.R.E. and actually educate children for a change.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@uberbatman My niece was in love with Eminem and Macklemore, etc…years ago and she is now just 14 yrs old. I just found it crazy that she was telling me all these stories of young users in school as we live in Mayberry USA, small, mostly white and affluent community and the only thing I see is that they all want to be gangsta’s. Kids these days….lol

uberbatman's avatar

@KNOWITALL right, but, go back 30 years ago, what kinda music were you listening to and what was that “influencing” the masses to do? Listen to some disco and do some lines :P

KNOWITALL's avatar

@uberbatman I was listening to Michael Jackson and didn’t think much about any of that stuff. My bf’s older brother turned us onto to mj…lol

Cupcake's avatar

Macklemore raps about being clean and in recovery. FYI.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Cupcake Oh I know, and gays are people, too, etc… :)

Seek_Kolinahr's avatar


My husband was born in 1970.

By 1979 he had intentionally smoked marijuana.

Rap culture? I suppose The Sugarhill Gang might have actually released “Rapper’s Delight” by that point, but it’s questionable.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Seek_Kolinahr I was born in 1973, and it was not cool by the 80’s (that really was coke days), but by the 90’s it was back in thanks to grunge.

All I’m saying is my niece and her friends all think gangsta/ thug life is the coolest. Unfortunately.

uberbatman's avatar

“All I’m saying is my niece and her friends all think gangsta/ thug life is the coolest. Unfortunately.” I think that is where parenting is supposed to come in….

JLeslie's avatar

@uberbatman It would be nice if the world around us didn’t have that crap. I think it is something to address in society not just parenting. Good parents can get crass and drug addicted children.

uberbatman's avatar

@JLeslie i suppose you are right, but at the same time, where does it end? The music? The video games? The movies? The Tv shows? The books?

JLeslie's avatar

@uberbatman There is a societal problem that needs to be addressed. I am not saying I want to censor everything. I am saying we should have a natural aversion to violence, making fun of people, abusive behavior, harming others, the criminal element, and too many people don’t. I do think parenting is extremely important regarding this, but now we have too many parents who are a mess also.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@uberbatman We live in a very small, almost all-white town in Missouri. It doesn’t get less ‘thuggish’, nor can parents be less thuggish…lol

All the kids are doing it uberbatman, get with the program!

ragingloli's avatar

People always complain about the “current generation of children”. They have done that for thousands of years.
What they forgot is, that when they were children, they were just as bad. In different ways and expressions, but as bad nonetheless.
And when they grow up, they leave that behind, then they look back and can not believe they were that stupid and did all these retarded things, and said all that nonsense.
And this eventually turns into denial, and a forced repression of these memories, until they finally convinced themselves that “they were never like that”, and that they were all “good kids” back then.
That is how it almost always goes.

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