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.

I think I’ve always been older than you…

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.

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 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.

Just came here to say alcohol is a drug too. Saying “alcohol and drugs” makes it seem more harmless despite it being one of (if not the) most harmful drugs we know of. I know its a common way to phrase it, not judging, just leaving my 2 cents.

Also to answer your question, I had my first drink at 14 and my first cannabis joint at around 17. I still smoke weed but almost never drink.

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.

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

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

When I was very young my mom was making bread with beer and I begged her to let me try it. Finally she relented that I could have a sip. I took one smell of the can and never had really had interest in trying again.

Thought when it became legal for me, but figured I would either waste 5 bucks if I hate it or become an alchoholic if I don’t. Don’t trust myself enough to assume I’d always stay moderate with stuff like that.

Now that I’m older, I’ve seen plenty of friends get deep into it then struggle through getting sober. Feel like I made good decisions.

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

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Ofc.

And you know it.

You just want people yo assure you you haven’t made the wrong decision by not engaging in those activities pre-18.

Might’ve avoided some fun experiences, but also definitely avoided a few bad ones as well.

I don’t plan on doing so anyway.

So then you already know. So are you just here for “oh yes drugs ruined my life because I smoked weed at 16”- comments? Haven’t got any.

Terence McKenna - The Message

Hopefully won’t try drugs ever, but I tried alcohol when i was around 17, while with my family. I figured it’d be safer than trying it on a random place without knowing my alcohol tolerance. I’ve learned that my tolerance was good, I didn’t find it good to my taste but I still think that not knowing my limits could’ve ended up in a worse result elsewhere.