>>24838625A while ago, there was some blog posts or something from one of the writers of the original Pokémon anime, and he revealed some lore aspects of the franchise.
I don't remember too much, but I remember him explaining that kids go on their journey as a coming-of-age thing, and are treated as adults from then on. Can live on their own even. But he explains the Pokémon world is more innocent and simple, so its ok for 10 year olds to be given adult responsibilities.
He also explained that many trainers will refuse to give up trying to be a Pokémon Master. Once your journey ends, you're supposed to find a job, but some people never give up and end up homeless. He explained that this is what happened to Ash's dad, he wanted to be the Champion so bad that he ended up failing and never came home.
Interesting stuff.
Anyways, to fit this theme, I kinda' headcanon that everything "adult" in the Pokémon World is just altered to be more innocent and fitting. So for example, instead of drugs/alcohol, Trainers may instead get "high" from a Pokémon's Sweet Scent.
