As bad as I hate Insurance companies, I have to admit that they gather all the data necessary to make the comparison between people of different ages in terms of smoking pot or drinking booze.
The numbers of DEAD people per/thousand as a result of booze and/or pot are already documented.
This is an inescapable set of numbers.
When I was a youngster, I was on my own, and I mean living on my own at 13. I worked full time and also went to school full time and graduated from high school.
As a result of this, I was a great deal more mature than the young people my same age. I got in no trouble because I didn't have time and I sure couldn't afford to lose my job at a restaurant where most of my food came from and all my money.
It used to piss me off bad that I had to pay more for my car insurance than someone over 21. Now, I can look at WHY those numbers are still at the same ratio.
People IN GENERAL that are less than 21 drive more aggressively, don't have enough experience behind the wheel to have learned to drive defensively ALL THE TIME, and WAY more of them get hurt or killed in traffic accidents as a direct result of being drunk or high, then any other group of people by age.
This is fact, not guesses.
A single individual like who I was at that age, may be more mature than his friends, but as a group, things are what they are and it's shown clearly that younger people tend to not think things through as thoroughly as older people and as a result, get hurt or hurt things or others more often.
This is also a proven fact. Anyone who would ignore this would be a fool.
Young people, when you see one of your friends slammin doughnuts in a car in a parking lot with smoke pouring off their tires and THEN watch them go out on the highway doing the same crap, IT'S THEM that is driving your insurance rates over the top and causing older people to look at all young people in the same manner.
Tell them that they're acting like the "typical kid" that adults make fun of and set the rules by. They're hurting YOU, not me.
It's the same with pot, just like Mutt said.
One person here on this group was literally bragging one time about how they LOVE to get blasted and go for a drive. They actually said they thought they drive better that way. That person had just turned 18, so they said.
Adults aren't just picking on kids because adults have some weird mean streak and just like to screw with young people.
Most rules are set on averages. If the average for young people to get into drug or booze related deaths and damage is SO FAR ABOVE that of older people, then you have to look at WHY those averages are so high.
It's because younger people CAUSE MORE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION in vehicles than older people. Uh duh!
Do I want some 16 year old who has three weeks experience behind the wheel of a car getting high and also driving? HELL NO.
Any young person who gets insulted by being treated in this manner needs to thank their friends next time they see them getting stupid in a car.
As for how people act when they're high, it's an easy one to see. Go to your local mall on a Friday or Saturday night and watch the behavior of the different ages. If you get high, then you know how to tell if someone else is high. Watch them. Watch how they act.
The high young people will be acting like idiots in general. Acting like they don't know how to handle the high. Getting ignorant and making a lot of noise.
Anyone can go do this experiment.
As an older person, I get tired of young people trying to blow off the blame for the actions of their own age group.
If you are a young person and you act mature and don't cause problems or harm to others, then you are the exception to the rule. The stats don't lie. How can you fake a car full of dead young people who are all drunk and high?
Yes, older people do this too. Just not as many per/thousand. As I said, the stats simply don't lie.
If you want to be treated as an equal with an older person, then make those stats drop. Make those OTHER young people stop hurting your chances to be respected as a mature person.
Don't blame older people for the actions of people who are young and acting stupid.
<Stoney climbs back down off his soap box now>
