Health - LSD: Does it mess with brain development?

[josephjab]

Hi,

my younger brother, he is 17 years old. He is not fully grown, and he has done X and I think is going to do LSD soon...

Does X, acid or any other drugs-- will they mess with brain development as I have heard somewhere???

Thank you.

[Nature Boy]

I suppose XTC and LSD have the potential to alter or damage the mind but I would imagine it would require copious use on a fairly regular basis. At 17 though, he's probably too young to be doing those drugs. All the same, I did XTC and LSD at 17 and it never did me any harm. You just gotta be careful and know what you're doing.

[Equality]

Well possible damage is just one side, what about possible benifits from using ?

Everybody always talks about the negative side, i have done drugs since i was 18 orso and never noticed anything negative for the long term, i'm doing a new school now (i'm 23) and it going great, no concentration problems no learning problems...

So it all depends, i wouldn't be to concerned although

[bcStoner420]

I would say XTC is the worste, nothing else really hurt SWIM when he was younger out of, Mushrooms, nitrous, marijuana, alcohol, and many others. And people who write those articles you probly read also say marijuana damages the developing brain. Also the only reason i say XTC is because if you use it alot you can damage your serotonin receptors, but thats for all ages not just young people. IMO hes got nothing to worry about.

[Woodman]

I don't think it would be good to encourage him, but if he ends up doing a hit or two I wouldn't worry about it. Just see to it he doesn't like it so much that he starts to make it a habbit.

I had a beautiful trip on acid when I was 17.

.

[fight4rights]

So far as the scientific community knows, there is no bodily harm in doing LSD. The only real long-term danger is the development of HPPD. This is hallucinogen persisting perception disorder. However, this disorder affects only a small percent of the population and there is no reason to believe that age has anything to do with it. More on that can be found here http://www.stormloader.com/hppd/.

As for ecstasy, as bcstoner420 mentioned, there is a possibility that it is neurotoxic. This means that it might do permanent damage to your brain, after repeated heavy use. But consider that Alcohol is a KNOWN neurotoxin. Any alcohol or tobacco use would most assuradly be more detrimental to your bro's health than a little acid.

Not much is known on how drugs affect developing bodies because not much research has been done on it. One important thing to remember is that the younger you start using a drug the greater risk you run of developing problems with it later on.

[gimmeabeer]

I think "possibility it's neurotoxic" is something of an understatement IMHO. If I'm not mistaken it's fairly well established that amphetamines (and particularly the more potent anaglogues e.g. meth and E) are highly neurotoxic and can, in layman's terms, melt your neurons. They cause such a massive influx of neurotransmitters that it wears out the nerves. I've seen too many people screw themselves over with this stuff: stay away from E. Ever see a cat scan of an X user? All holes :P By comparison, alcohol is far less neurotoxic and acid is fairly innocuous in that respect. Just make sure he's not doing them all at once or too frequently, which will definately spell brain damage in big bold letters.

[one4thedoc]

"I've seen too many people screw themselves over with this stuff: stay away from E. Ever see a cat scan of an X user? All holes :P"

It's been proven from several sources that the swiss cheese effect is utter BS. Even NBC Dateline has acknowledged this claim as nothing more that propoganda.

This is not to say E is harmless, as friends of friends have told me regular use has infact left their friends "E-tarded". However I also know a girl who said she'd popped pills for "2 years strait", though she doesn't seem slow, she does have emotional issues (but I didnt know her before her binge).

Do some research, but know your sources.

[Chem42]

I first did acid at 18, at the start of my freshman year in college. I think the timing was good.

[Toltec]

The Shulgin's say that it's best to wait until you have found your self; as in, being confident of who you are, emotionally stable etc... That's the best time to first try it.

[Solidly-here]

For some people, they can have their "mind" together by the time they are 15 or 16. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people over 25 who aren't ready to do Drugs.

Outside of that Range, everybody gets to decide how they want to treat their body (and mind).

Wisdom is called for. A person gets High a couple times. If he notices that his Habits (or thought patterns) have changed a little (and, does NOT like that feeling), then the best bet is to refrain for month or 2, and see how it feels to NOT get High. Then he decides whether or not to do it some more. If that guy is 13 (an average age to start), he can decide to wait until he's 16, and see how it feels THEN.