I'm all for legalizing pot and it's just natural that young people _experiment_ with drugs. That does not mean that constant drug use during adolescence should be perceived as normal or harmless.
One example is in cholonergic neurons in the pre-frontal cortex. Pre-puberty, they are inhibitory, and post-puberty they are excitatory; it's a fair bit of a change in a very complicated system. Though I can't find that citation right now, there is a good-ish overview of the changes in the pre and post-pubescent neuroanatomy here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5283387/
There is some evidence, in terms of THC, of effects on the growth of mossy climbing fiber neurons and retardation of climbing onset in adolescents. Again, though, I can't find that citation right now. Maybe I need more of the stimulant caffeine? ;)
That doesn't mean we should make it easier for them to experiment.
Is it?
No problems with 13 year-olds trying heroin?
>If you read studies claiming pot to be safe, and you're not convinced, then don't smoke it.
Pot isn't safe for kids, and there are multitudes of studies that show this. Will it hurt if a kid does something dumb once or twice? No. But habitual use is disastrous, from a brain developmental standpoint, mental health, and the sheer amount of time lost by being 'drunk' and not focusing on things like school. Pot is also addictive, not in the same way that heroin is, but it is addictive.
Keep in mind, the original statement was around what is natural and what is isn't. I'm not conceding that it is natural for kids to smoke pot or do other drugs.
Can weed be a person's gateway to harder drugs? Sure. Is it the gateway drug? I don't think so.
Chronic drug use is no joke, but at least half the people I know used psychedelics in their early 20's.
Most people drink, and most people have used cannabis at least once.
What isn't normal is demonizing all forms of substance use, without properly differentiating it from substance abuse.
Oh yeah? 13 year olds 'experimenting' by doing lines of coke seem normal to you?
On a more serious note, that's quite a biased way of thinking about cocaine use. The plant/substance doesn't have the same stigma in, say, Peru, where a 13-year-old is quite likely to have chewed coca leaves or drunk coca tea on many occasions. The perception you have of cocaine use is very much a product of the community in which you were raised.
If you mean healthy and what I would suggest for a teen, no. If you mean something that happens fairly commonly in the world, yes, that does.
I don't think it's natural for kids to smoke marijuana. It is something that SOME kids do, but it is not natural or inevitable, and it is categorically not good for them (from a brain development, mental health, time-waste and addiction standpoint). There is a tendency for people to minimize marijuana risks and get sloppy around pot usage by kids.
Nobody said that smoking marijuana is natural, the argument was that the desire to alter one's mind and to experiment is natural.