I started drinking at 13 but never much. It wasn't until about 15 i finally got blackout drunk. My peer group drank hard in the late 90s and were the binge drinking bar crowd of the early 00s. I've lost a few friends to ODs combining booze and pills, accidents while drunk, escalation to heroin, and once had to be resuscitated when i drank so much i quit breathing. It wasn't until my late 30s that i finally got sick of living like that and reigned in my drinking. Now i never drink at home and maybe go out one afternoon for happy hour and am home by 10 rather than closing out the bar every night.

Alcohol is a rough one because it's not only an addictive substance, it has a strong social component. When you drink hard your social circle becomes others who drink hard, if you try and quit you have no friends. If you have a hard time making friends while sober but are more at ease with a little buzz, you'll end up right back at a bar. I've been going to the same bar for over 20yrs and there's regulars who were there before me still on the same barstools.

It looks like the other side needs a bit more representation here. I'm late 30's. While I've had the occasional wine with friends and family, I've never been drunk and have no plans to change that. I've also never done drugs unless you count stuff like caffeine. I guess my rule of thumb is if a substance makes me not me, I don't want it.

Fun fact from a psych nurse: you can usually estimate how many years a person has spent abusing substances by how many years behind they seem in their emotional development. A 30y/o who still acts 20ish has probably spent ~10 years using. It's not necessarily contiguous, they might have started at fifteen, used for 3, got sober for two, used for 7 more then been sober for the last 3, but they've probably spent about ten years using in total. Abusing substances lets people avoid the psychological crises they would normally need to confront to grow as a person. When they stop using they don't get to skip ahead, they have to pick up maturing from where they left off. It can also happen with non-substance behavioral addictions (like gambling) but it has to be real bad.

I started drinking age 14. At first it was like 3 beers per friday. By age 16 I was drinking a 12-pack per firday/saturday. By age 18 I was drinking a few beers every day and got properly pissed on the weekends, about 20-24 beers and some vodka. By age 22 I was pretty much an alcoholic. By age 25 I decided I either stop or die under a bridge with my own shit in my pants. Have been alcohol free now for... I dunno, 13-15 years or something like that.

Yes. But I am Scottish.

I went to university when I was two weeks away from my 16th birthday. I started smoking weed that summer, and tried alcohol when I was 17.

In Germany (if your parents agree) its allowed to drink beer and wine from the age of 14. By 16 you are allowed to buy beer and wine by yourself. By 18 you can buy anything.

... So yeah, the first time i got shitfaced i was 13 :|

Im german. My first time I couldn't walk anymore was 16, first blackout was 17. Normal drunk as fuck since I was 14

Once I turned 16, I would have a beer with my parents once or twice a month. Despite being in the US, in my state it's legal for parents to give their kids alcohol, so it was no big deal.

Personally, I think it can be a fairly healthy introduction to alcohol, so long as the parents aren't just giving their kids a 30-pack and letting them loose.

Never bothered with weed, I was never (and still not) interested

There's an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in my area called "Never Had A Legal Drink." It was created by and for people who decided that they were alcoholics and had to stop drinking before they turned 21.

Plenty of people get into drugs/alcohol at an early age.

I was a fullblown alcoholic and habitual stoner by the time i was 16. Started at 14. Im now 2 years sober at 29 and really mourning the lost time.

A minor exceptions, I stole a sip of my a coke without realizing there was booze in it. Felt weird, tasted gross.

0/10. Don't recommend.

I didn't really drink until my 21st birthday. My only memories of that night was being bought a shot of Hennessy, bartender telling me to put my shoes back on and then crying to my best friend that I totally loved her in the cab home.

Hilarious. 10/10. Smashing success.

Yes

I think I've always been older than you...

My psrents gave me a sip as a teen and I hated it. I tried it again at 21 and hated it then too. It was only a few years after that I tried something I liked.

Yes, we have quite an unhealthy alcohol culture here.

The only redeeming factor is that most people make their mistakes learning their tolerance while still being young enough to avoid getting in serious trouble.

If you've never touched alcohol at 18, you might want to be extra careful about it. It's kinda cringe to watch grown ups not knowing their limits, because it's assumed that they should know by now.

I didn't drink until I was 23. I don't think I missed out on much.

That said...I drink a lot now, so maybe I'm making up for it? lol, jk.

Drink if you want, don't if you don't. It's poison, it's unhealthy.

I smoked weed at 16, more regularly from 17 on. Didn't have my first drunk till 18. A few beers and sips of wine here and there, but never full on blasted.

If I could go back in time I'd tell myself to stay sober. I never had any huge problems with substance abuse, but it took me to my till my 30's to realize life was better and more fun with a clear mind.

My first time getting drunk was with 17 years old, i live in europe. I could have gotten drunk earlier, as many do, but my environment with friends and family kept me from that. I have to say I am very happy to have had my first serious contact with alcohol no earlier than 17 because i was able to judge the implications better.

I only drank underage once at my graduation party

Yes, I was 11-12 and got it from some freshmen/eighth graders who got it from God-knows-who

Started at 13, about every weekend. 0,5 l moonshine. That continued until 20, then maybe just 2 times a month. 20 years later I never get drunk but enjoy a glass or two sometimes. I don't wanna know how many brain cells I killed.

my friends dad would feed us beer in the pub at 13 years old. We were having lock ins in local rural pubs in deserted rural areas by 16. At 18 (legal drinking age here) I could party all night.

I have drank in variable amounts ever since high school, so around 14 or 15yo. Alcohol should be approached with a lot of caution. It has a way of sneaking into your life and taking greater and greater importance without you realizing. Thankfully I've seen it happen in others and that's kept me on my toes

I was a nervous kid. I didn't try alcohol until 20 and weed till I was 31. They can be fun but remember your brain is still developing. Don't really use them until that has stopped. They have profoundly negative effects on your developing brain.

And alcohol is literally just poison. Id avoid that completely if you don't have a strong desire to drink. I say that as a neurodivergent that self medicates with alcohol. It's not good stuff.

I've had a couple of parent-sanctioned sips of beer once every few years as a teenager, but never got drunk nor smoked any weed for the first time until age 20.

I think I got drunk for the first time at the age of 13, partied hard til I was 19, then "took a break" from it and went hard again in my early army days (2015/16). I haven't had any alcohol in 8ish years or something like that (for more than just religious reasons).

Some people, like me, just got drunk to be in a "better" position to make some indecent proposals to drunk girls in pubs/clubs, and once you're out of that cycle (in my case, I met my now wife) it loses any utility. Other people really enjoy the effects of booze, and that's it. The first group will more easily leave it in the past, for obvious reasons.

I'm 25 and have yet to have a proper drink. Most people in my country started illegally drinking at 13-15 years old while out clubbing, but I just hate alcohol so much! I never understood the hype around it. I don't even like it when there are a couple of teaspoons in my sorbet. I'll have a tropical mocktail or soda, thank you.

In the UK it's quite common for kids at some 15/16 to have house parties with alcohol (our drinking age is 18). At least this was common when I was that age 16 years ago

I waited until college. I tried weed and alcohol in my freshmen year, so 18-ish for me.

9 when first tipsy on champagne at A new year's party. Generally had a beer with food from 14ish. Would get drunk regularly every weekend from 15. Drunk daily between 17 and 18, clubbing and partying almost daily. Calmed down a bit and restricted that to weekends from 19-20 but spent the whole weekend shit-faced. At 20-21, cut it down to just one day of the weekend. At 22-23 it dropped to only ever every few weeks but still getting pissed.

From 24 onwards it's been only every few weeks but just getting tipsy e.g. ½ to 1 bottle of wine, with the odd occasion of 1½ bottles. Rarely drink anything other than wine these days as I live in wine country and have access to good stuff but do like a beer or a rum and coke too, especially if I'm out at a gig or club on the very rare occasion that happens. Rounds out to about 12-14 bottles of wine a year. Which isn't too bad. Certainly a lot healthier than in my late teens-early 20s.

I drank once when I was 17 but didn't really care for it (rootbeer and vodka, not great, not terrible).

Yeah.

I think I started drinking around 15? Stopped around 25, don’t drink these days as I don’t enjoy the taste at all and my party days are over. Don’t regret it though, would certainly do it again at those ages.

Similar for drugs, but I’ll do a psychedelic every few years.

Those thing are best enjoyed in your youth when you’re with your friends.

Yep, first had alcohol and pot around fourteen. I don't think anyone I personally knew had their first drink later than fifteen or sixteen.

My younger wine is at college and doesn’t drink (good for him). Since the drinking age here is 21, most college kids can’t legally drink. Of course they do anyway, and I can’t be too judgemental since I did at that age as well.

However my son abandoned his initial group of friends because that’s all they wanted to do, socially. There’s a game, and students get free tickets: nope, I’d be late to the frat parties. There’s this cool trail: nope, the parties are then. Let’s go to this movie: I’ll be drinking then.

I realize I’m only hearing half the story, but it really seems like not just excessive drinking but drinking as a problem, interfering with normal life.

I'm 30 and I've never drank alcohol or done any drugs besides whatever medications my doctors give me. Watching beer and cigarettes destroy my father's life kept me ever from wanting to even try. Plus seeing how damn expensive it all is makes me super glad I never started.

I didn't, many many many people have though

The first time I quit smoking pot was in the fifth grade.

I started smoking dope again in high school. I didn’t drink alcohol much in high school mostly because I didn’t like the taste, but I had did plenty of drinking.

I was a total pothead in high school. I was self medicating because of my crazy ass home life.

I tried weed and alcohol a couple of times. Didn't really care about them much though and never got into them. I started enjoying weed occasionally in my mid 30s. 😂 I still don't care about alcohol much, though I'll drink on occasion.

To be totally honest, it wouldn't kill you to try light drugs like alcohol, THC or nicotine, and you won't get instantly addicted to them or anything. But they are not healthy for you or your brain, and in the long term the potential for addiction is there. I personally feel that nicotine is the most addictive and THC. Is the least.

I would strongly recommend against even trying hard drugs, like opioids, heroin, meth or fentanyl, as those things can ruin your life or kill you quickly. Not all "drugs" are the same.

I have Asian parents... can't be touching shit like that lol

I'm 23 about to be 24

I never even considered trying it... I was just so submissive to my parents... my mom told me alcohol, drugs, gambling was bad... don't do these things... so I just accepted it as fact...

I mean I don't really wanna live a life like some gangster anyways... so now I don't even wanna start...

I lost a master password to a password database once and that shit made me even more paranoid about the idea of memory loss so I don't want anything to do with alcohol or drugs...

I'm so glad my dad is not some gambler alcoholic like it is with the common trope of broken families... I'd probably killed myself by now if I lived in that sort of family.

When I turned 21, I talked about going to a casino just to "play a small amount" for funsies... but never ended up going since I was dealing with depression and that felt too extra...

(As for the porn stuff... I just ignored my mom's advice...

This is 'Murica, tf you mean I cant see boobs lol... let the boobs be free)

Ive tasted wine and beer and had cider and champagne for toasts, didn't drink more than a few sips.

Combining it all I don't think I added up to a whole glass in less than a year, I see no problem in trying stuff and doing toasts, but I've also haven't had contact with heavy alcoholics so it's easy for me to say something like that, if I've had experience with alcoholics in my family I'd probably not even want to try.