Drug usage and maturity?

This is just a random thought, i'm unsure if there is any actual research behind this or not, but do you think drug usage (especially at a young age) prevents your mental maturities growth development?

Say you're 16 and start smoking weed daily for years until you're 20, will you act more or less like a 16 year old rather than a 20 year old?

Most of my friends don't do drugs and i'm the only "stoner" in our group, and they all seem a lot more mature than me which got me thinking, at first i thought it was just me, but then i started to realize the few other stoners that i do know also act a lot like me... we act a lot more childish than our peers i believe.

I've been a heavy smoker since i was 16, yet now i'm 18 and haven't really seen any change in my mental behavior along with all the other stoners i know, yet everyone else i know has changed so much that i barely fit in anymore.

This is just a theory, it's very possible that it has nothing to do with the weed and other drugs and i'm just a very immature person

*EDIT* by being immature i mean that i do more annoying things to others thinking it's funny, like immature jokes, along with not thinking about the future and not wanting to graduate and go to university or get a job. But i'm still very mature in the sense of thinking, i believe i think a lot deeper than most of my friends and other people my age, i comment on how our school system is shit and how the government is messed and how we're being lied to constantly all the time, yet everyone just gives me this blank look and stairs at me as if i'm crazy. Drugs may have made me more "silly" and "immature" but i believe they've helped me open my eyes and not just be blinded by lies. (that rhymed lol )

 

Some people never get mature.

 

I didn't take drugs when I was young because I was a super goody-goody, although I do now so I can't comment from personal experience. But my boyfriend started talking drugs when he was very young and he is one of the most mature people that I know.

It probably depends on what drugs you are taking though. I am of the opinion that things like mushrooms make a person more mature.

 

I think I matured earlier because of drug use... Or maybe that was going to happen anyways and it had nothing to do with the drugs, it was more of a coincidence.

 

I think you are just more aware my friend. And youthfullness is not immaturity, you got your terminology messed up. Do not worry, you are just fine.

 

i guess maturity itself is a vague concept

i think that behavior your talking about isnt really immaturity, and if it is, then maturity = boring

ive met some ''mature'' people...

not my type


or maybe me and you are just immature ...

 

I guess that's true, it most likely has nothing to do with the drugs, everyone's different.

But i do believe the drugs must affect you in some way, I believe i'm a lot more aware due to drugs (even though i've always been like this even before drugs, but the drugs may have made me more so like this? or maybe that just came with age, either or) than my friends and people i know, which might also make me a lot more immature because i don't take things to seriously unlike them.

I'm unlike many people in my grade, everyone seems to be trying so hard lately because it's their final year and all, yet i seem to be slacking off more than ever, it's just the concept behind it all that drives me crazy. And now i'm not aloud to attend my own prom or cross the stage to graduate because i've missed to many classes? And the principles keep on threatening me by saying things like that, not being aloud to partake in grad events, but that makes me want to miss even more classes... who are they to tell me that i have to go to school? They aren't my parents, it's none of their business, i have straight C+'s and B's in everything, it's not like i'm failing, so why do they care if i go or not? It's as if they're trying to control us, and i'm just so fed up with my school because lately they have been making so many stupid ridiculous rules it's insane, and i can't believe they are going to ruin my graduation just because i miss a few classes here and there? How does that concern them? I'm ranting now..... they just piss me off so much lol

 

yeah, drugs probably affect your brain, because they mess with your brain...

but im no neurologist to say something consistent about that

 

drugs don't change who u r.even lsd just excentuates who u r.maturity depends on nature and nurture.my spouse has done drugs way longer then i and spent time on the streets as a kid(mom kicked him out at 13)the nature of his life made him reliable at work,the nurture of his life made him distrusting of women and very childish when it comes to relasionships with women.i didn't leave home tell i was in my 20's and only did drugs occasionaly and i suck at everything and my maturity level is that of a 20 year old.

 

I agree, you never know. It could be drug use but it tends to be more towards the personality of a person. You say your stoner friends act like you? Well maybe you just seemed to attract people who have similar personalities. While your other friends may not be smoking it's hard to decide whether it is influenced by drugs. Unless of of course you are high and comparing personalities.

 

I think it's a difficult question because there are so many factors that come into play and drugs can make you more mature yet less mature at the same time?

If you start doing drugs at a really young age, it makes you mature in the sense that it takes over your childhood and you don't get to experience that "innocence" yet at the same time it may make you less mature because you may not make the best choices in life if you start drugs really really young, like i'm talking about the 12-13 year old stoners.

But i'm only saying that based on my experiences, i know there are a bunch of people on here that started drugs at that young age and are really cool people, but where i live all the kids on drugs are really messed up and are those annoying little kid wanna-be gangsters that only do drugs to be cool.

 

I would really hate to see kids under the age of 15 smoking weed. It really shouldn't be up to debate whether drug use is good for a developing mind, especially at such a pre-pubescent age. I know that when i did it it opened me up to explore subjects i wouldn't have explored if i was sober. The first book i picked up during high school (at my leisure, not mandated by the school) was the doors of perception/heaven and hell by aldous huxley. It peaked my interest in other drugs and i'm almost sure i wouldn't have read it unless i started smoking weed. Like i said it all depends on the person, smart people who smoke weed will break boundaries, but the stupid will always be stupid

 

This.

It shouldnt be told that drugs make you stupid or anything, just because some stupid people use them.

 

I started smoking weed at 13. I think it helped me to mature a lot.

 

who needs maturity when you got booze :sunny:

 

" smart people who smoke weed will break boundaries, but the stupid will always be stupid"


QFT

 

It depends strongly on the person, the drug(s) in question, the frequency of use, the reasons for use, the company you keep and activities you partake in while using said drugs, etc.

It can go either way, kickstart you or hold you back.

Given what you've said, here and elsewhere on the forum, you may have used it to escape from having to think, a wee bit. So it might have really held you back.

 

what is maturity?

a fully formed state of mental and emotional development?

or is it

protecting the kingdom from evil

battling the purple goblin lord with the sword of power given to you by gandalf the happy elf

all from the comfort of your own sofa???

talk about responsibility.

 

Same here, there are so many little kids in my area around the ages of 10-12 that smoke weed and do other drugs, it's ridiculous, i don't think anyone should start smoking until 15-16 as well. It wouldn't be as bad if these kids were 'normal' but they are far from it. They all try acting way older than they are by stealing, swearing, fighting, acting "gangster" these kids all need a good smack across the head, and the worst part is they have no discipline because their own parents are welfare druggies themselves.

Personally, i intentionally waited until i was 16 before i started looking for weed, i didn't want to start at a younger age.

I agree, i think it really depends on the friends you have and the circumstances you are under.

And haha, i admit i've possibly used drugs to escape from time to time, but who hasn't? I had a pretty messed up childhood when i was younger which lead to some pretty messed up anxiety now that i'm older, weed helps you forget, which is good isn't it? And it helps you calm down, like i literally get pissed off just thinking about school and society and everything, i can't comprehend why the world functions the way it does, so whenever i think about how pointless everything really is it stresses me out and weed helps me to just sit back and not give a fuck lol

 

Who hasen't? Lots of people. Weed does NOT make you forget, it's NOT alcohol and does not work like it.

That was exactly my point, you're misusing weed.

Your whole outlook is not one from which you should take drugs. If you take or have taken drugs to escape, it's possible you'll never be able to use them another way. I know people who think weed is just fine and they can handle it, but they can't behave themselves without it, and will blame the lack of weed if you mention this.