Well, I guess 12/13 is a little young to start. Of course, even in the UK, you're supposed to wait until you're 18 but 16 sounds about right if you know you can handle it and are going into it for the right reasons.

The right reasons are the love of the music, the atmosphere and the people, from my point of view. If you wanna do drugs and/or get drunk, that's your perogative, but make damn sure you know what you're up to. I'd suggest having a good read of The Vaults of Erowid.

As for the police, thanks to the culture of fear the permeates western societies (and America is one of the worst places for it!) anything that is new, different and potentially dangerous will get hammered. Alcohol and tobacco are fine for society, even though they're proved to be dangerous but even a hint of drugs, a new kind of music that might irritate a few neighbours (can anyone say Hip Hop!) and loads of young people enjoying themselves rather than studying hard, and you have something which just doesn't fit society's definition of "OK".

Don't worry though, society will adjust to dance culture as it has in the UK, and before you know it, you'll be complaining about how the scene just ain't the same since all the trendies started coming along!

So, have patience, head along when you're ready and don't worry to much about the law, they'll never quite manage to kill it of...