Some psychonauts who tripped when they were younger (e.g. as teenagers) will say they wish they waited until they were older. Often, this is because of the lack of knowledge and maturity they had at this age, which led them to trip without paying attention to set and setting. This could have meant tripping in the wrong places, with the wrong people, taking too high a dose, not testing substances, mixing substances, doing drug binges, not spending time integrating, falling into negative mental and behavioural patterns, and so on and so forth.
At the same time, many people trip as teenagers and seem to suffer no ill effects; they instead describe these early experiences as educational, transformative, and life-changing. There is also the idea that using psychedelics when your brain is not fully developed is not inherently risky; the risks only arise because of a lack of a safe container for the experience. For example, it is commonplace in many Indigenous cultures for children to take psychedelics. From a Western perspective, this might set alarm bells ringing. But cultural differences lead to different outcomes in use. As Rebecca Kronman writes in a piece for Chacruna:
Indigenous use, which involves children in the ceremonial or ingestion aspects of psychoactive substances, not only removes the taboo and legal restrictions that can increase harm for Western adolescents engaged in psychedelic use, but also instills a sense of reverence for these substances. Indigenous children are not using psychedelics for escapism, experimentation, or in ways that are contrary to their society’s norms.
Alex Grey recounts:
I waited until I was around 21. My first trip was an extraordinary opening into resolving issues that had been coming up during adolescence, which kind of crystallized through that experience, resolved themselves in some ways, and suggested ways past my impasses. It might be that some kids would get that early, and they would be able to skip some of the doldrums or depressions of adolescence if they were initiated in a framework of support and by folks who were part of their tribe—a sort of wider and wiser family. And so if they were opening up and becoming vulnerable—exposing their psyche and delving into those dimensions in a loving supportive setting—then I can imagine that it could be.
Having a safe container for these experiences, as present in Indigenous contexts, could make psychedelic use safe for children and adolescents. This would involve elements like reverence for the substance and experience, traditions of use, age-dependent doses, preparation, having the experience in a communal setting, and post-experience support. However, it’s questionable whether this could neatly translate into a Western context, given the attitudes surrounding drugs. We do not have well-developed traditions, practices, education, or tight-knit communities in place that make giving psychedelics to children and adolescents advisable.
In Aldous Huxley’s psychedelic utopian novel Island (1962), children ingest psychedelics as part of their initiation into adolescence and the community. Ram Dass also discussed the potential benefits of having psychedelic rites of passage. But it would be idealistic to imagine that, in the West, we could easily develop communal contexts in which it’s safe for children and adolescents to take psychedelics.
We know that Native Americans (including children) who regularly use peyote show no evidence of brain damage or psychological problems. Kronman writes, “Native Americans who used peyote scored better on several measures of overall mental health than members of the same tribe who did not use peyote, likely due to their association with the Church community that uses peyote as a sacrament.” A 2011 study of 40 Brazilian adolescents who used ayahuasca found no differences between them and a control group on neuropsychological and psychiatric tests. The study also found that the ayahuasca-using group used alcohol and other substances at lower rates and experienced less anxiety. However, Western contexts in which psychedelics are used differ. Kronman stresses:
Since childhood and adolescence are periods of rapid brain development, anything that may alter the structure or functioning of the brain warrants very careful consideration in how they are used, or whether they are used at all until the brain finishes developing. Moreover, procuring and ingesting psychedelics is illegal. Children risk interactions with the criminal justice system, especially non-white children whose communities are more heavily policed and who are arrested at disproportionate rates.
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