Pot is not good.
I feel sorry for the kids who end up being less then they could be.
Life is short.
Great have fun, get high...but someday they will look back and wish they had tried to better themselves.
The only gateway that marijuana creates is a gateway to working with drug dealers. Make it legal and regulated and you take that seedy aspect out of it. As far as I am concerned this would drastically decrease access to other substances particularly for young people.
1
It seems what this article is asking and what many people want is some kind of definitive answer and assurance either way as to whether or not if they try and use alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana, they will later abuse opiates or heroin. People seem to want to believe that individuals are either predisposed to addiction or not. Some think it is a character flaw and that people are bad because they use drugs; others think it is a genetic flaw that certain people can't help using drugs. Generally, people don't seem to want to think it could be that the drugs and alcohol themselves that make people feel really good, while at the same time physically and mentally harming them, which makes them want to use them again and more. Using any of these drugs increases the likelihood of using two or all three of them, and also increases the risk of using opiates. People who start using them during adolescence (up to age 26) are at greater risk of using them and or becoming dependent. The drugs that are legal are marketed to youth because those industries' profits depend on getting youth to use, and that youth use increases the risk that people will use opiates later in life. Because we are an extremely social species, if we look at humans as a population, like a hive or a forest, similarly influenced by environmental factors, the "gateway" theory, which needs a more accurate name, might make more sense to people than thinking in terms of individuals.
1
Mainly what this all proves is that we have to do a better job of teaching conditional probability in school. "The probability of P given Q" is not the same thing as "the probability of Q given P." So in this case, the probability that heroin users previously breathed air is 100%, but that's not the probability that air breathers will later use heroin.
Another piece of mathematics that the "gateway drug" people don't seem to understand is that correlation does not prove causality. The experiments with rats, if they're randomly selected into the experimental group and the control group, can prove causality. But in human beings, I'd say it's much more likely that the life experiences that lead someone into drug abuse are the most likely causes of both marijuana abuse (not just trying it once) and heroin or cocaine abuse.
As for these rat studies, alcohol is an addictive drug, and nicotine is one of the most strongly addictive drugs known. It wouldn't surprise me if they turned out to be gateway drugs even in human beings. Why didn't they try it with marijuana? Oh yeah, it's because you can't legally get it in the US, even for medical experiments.
So do these researchers every do pot themselves? I find it interesting that the self proclaimed "experts" and "drug warriors" are always quiet about that.
I remember Earl Butz saying something like "you no playa the game, you no makea the rules".
The part that’s missing from the ‘rats who drink alcohol are more likely to try cocaine’ experiment is that humans might try a hard drug once or twice, decide they don’t like the consequences, and never touch it again. I feel this is a common part of growing up nowadays. Binge drinking might make you ‘looser’ and more likely to try this or that, but I don’t think it’s more likely to make you fall down the rabbit hole of drug addiction.
As for weed, no, no, no. People who smoke weed are DEFINITELY less likely to use other drugs (including alcohol). It seems very ritualized, almost medicinal, for them, and I just don’t see them bothering (too stoned to bother) with harder stuff.
1
In a recent NYT story about heroin use, the national map showing the states with the most amount of opioid use did NOT have Calif., Wash., Ore., CO or AK awash with high amounts. Although slightly more in N. Calif.
What do these states all have in common? Legal cannabis sales.
Get with this program.
Alcohol is the most dangerous substance available. More violence, car crashes and deaths are perpetrated through alcohol than any other drug. This is the gateway.
9
“Dr. Nadelman” is paid to (and clearly believes with religious zeal) that ALL drugs should be available and that curbing abuse is purely a medical issue.
That is as absurd as claiming smoking weed will produce a heroin addict. But drugs that are much easier to obtain - tobacco, alcohol, now marijuana, can be very dangerous for addiction-prone individuals.
The utter refusal of many “anti-drug warriors” to see ANY risk to making powerful psychoactive drugs widely more available is delusional. Pot that was 2% THC when I was in college is now 32% or in “shatter” butane hash oil form, 70-90% THC.
Tell the families of addicts that this is purely a social problem.
2
The underlying question here is whether marijuana should be legal. Pretty much everyone knows that marijuana by itself is not dangerous. But in buying marijuana one is breaking the law, and is put in touch with the illegal drug trade. This may indeed lead to other drugs, but only because one is obliged to become an outlaw to get it.
9
The most vile pushers of opioids is Purdue Pharma, the company which came up with OxyContin, and their enablers the doctors who are pursued to prescribe it.
There Were painkillers before Oxy, you know. When I had back trouble in the 90's my doctor prescribed naproxin sodium. It worked fine. Today you can buy it over the counter as Alleve. A few years ago I had shoulder surgery. The doc prescribed that oxy junk. I took it for one day. Not only did it fail to relieve pain, it got me constipated. I switched to the prescription dosage of naproxin sodium. The result was less pain and no constipation.
OxyContin is as pernicious as heroin. On balance it causes more problems than it solves. Ban it.
7
Sorry I don't agree. Alleve use...three doses only, gave me an ulcer. Horrible on the stomach. OxyContin relieved kidney stone pain, and I did not get addicted. It should not be banned...it causes problems for people who are susceptible to addiction.
What if I said to you that Alleve should be banned because it causes more problems than it solves? That was MY experience, but obviously it worked fine for you. My doctor kept pushing it even though I said it hurt my stomach. Oh no, she said, Ibuprophen is much worse on stomachs.
Not mine, though. I have no problems at all with ibuprophen. Just Alleve.
People are different. Bodies are different, brains work differently in relation to substances. Why do you think there are different kinds of antidepressants? Zoloft was horrible, Prozac worked wonders. For me, and for my father. But Zoloft is a useful drug for some.
1
I bet that among the rats involved in behavioral studies, the electric shock rats are deeply envious of the alcohol and cocaine rats...
5
The only gateway pot leads to is hunger and laughter. Never aggression. How many fights do you hear about at Phish or Dead shows?
3
Pot is no more a gateway drug than coffee.
Show me a junkie who's never had coffee.
7
If you're looking for the real gateway drugs it's actually sugar and salt. I guarantee you every person who ever did hard drugs started out on sugar and salt as a child.
Taken together with cute little cartoon characters and happy little jingles to manipulate the mind and you have a toxic formula of physically addictive substance with psychologically addictive brain washing that primes the pathways for future generation of addicts.
3
Hidden in many closets are the hoary things done while drunk.
Past the feel good stage, when you are 8 ft tall and have a superhero ID, what will you not do?
Coke? meth? some funny colored pill etc etc
Sometimes science seeks answers when answers are in plain sight.
Refined white sugar is the first gateway drug. Studies show it has the same effect on the brain as heroin or cocaine. Doubtful? Watch how a child behaves after given concentrated sugar
3
What century is it? More "gateway drug" nonsense from people who don't want other people to take drugs. It's called "available drugs" and you can take them in any order or combination you can afford. Next lesson: "cocktail drugs".
2
Just more theories to continue to blame weed for all the ills of society. Sure there are people who smoke pot and partake in more hardcore substances. There are also lots of folks who smoke pot and don't ruin their lives by abusing other drugs. Reefer madness has given weed a bad rap. In my opinion those who support that theory have ruined many lives by incarcerating so many people for smoking pot. Wake up and smell the roses.
3
Or wake up and smell the chocolate chip cookies.
1
...or smell the “skunk.”
"Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, have routinely used the gateway effect as their chief argument against reform...."
This from a man Ted Kennedy aptly called a racist; and a former Governor who most charitably could be called the thinking man's Donald Trump.
3
Why are we still talking about drugs?
Didn't Trump already solve this problem by suggesting an ad campaign to tell us not to do drugs?
1
In Jay McInerney's novel "Bright Lights, Big City" the unnamed protagonist, a fact checker for an elite NYC magazine, habitually drinks a large vodka on the rocks before sniffing his first lines of coke of the evening and then alternates strong doses of alcohol with repeated cocaine consumption. It's obvious that the pleasure of this use, in this order, produces a euphoria greater than that of the sum of the two drugs on their own. Sometimes literature is more useful than statistical science to prove a theory.
And humans are not rats, even if the powers that be would gladly reduce us to such a degraded state without a thought.
1
In 1981 Dr. Bruce Alexander tried an interesting experiment. He built an ideal environment for a group of rats, a kind of rat-heaven where each individual had adequate space, varied foods, and social opportunities. When offered the option of a morphine cocktail these rats preferred the plain water also available to them. Even after adding sugar to the morphine solution the happy rats showed no interest in it. When placed in the typical lab environment of isolation, wire cages, and a monotonous diet, the depressed rats quickly turned to the morphine solution and stayed with it, keeping themselves high. You can learn a lot from rats if you're willing to pay attention.
7
This is really interesting!
From this article, it sounds like Sessions needs to go after big pharma and make oxycotin and other opioid prescription drugs illegal. But that would mean going after the big pharma political donors. And we saw what happened when the DEA tried to get legislation to reign in the dumping of millions of oxycotin pills on tiny communities in places like West Virginia and Florida - Congress nixt it. They don't care about addiction. They care about making illegal something big pharma has never figured out how to put in a pill. Now if that ever happens, you can be sure people like Sessions will be the first to push the FDA to legalize it and will pocket the big pharma's appreciative donations.
Just another article that seeks to find causation to the current opioid epidemic in a lab. This is a multi-faceted problem that involves biological, social, medical, and educational aspects, and as such, it requires a multi-faceted response. Prevention works for some people, it is true. And some people who smoke never use other drugs while others do. What makes their brains different? Is it a hormonal differences that cause some people to become addicts? Why not write about those questions instead of dusting off the same old theories of Gateway Drugs and dysfunctional home life? What would be actual news are articles that discuss innovative treatment programs that encompass neuroscience and cutting edge mental health care. Oh, but that would require a culture that believes in science and decent and affordable mental health care.... As the Church Lady would say, “Never mind.”
1
Marijuana isn't a "gateway" to opioids, it's a 100% non-lethal alternative. States with legal medical marijuana have seen huge drops in opioid overdoses.
Epileptics, chemo patients and PTSD sufferers are among those who benefit greatly from cannabis and its byproducts.
4
The scientific debate here is healthy but largely seems to distract from the obvious. There is no doubt that once one sees ‘getting high’ as part of ones acceptable repertoire, then what one is using to get high becomes a different sort of question. I am not here disputing whatever biology may be if issue in the gateway hypothesis but think we need to focus more on how choices are made. We are in the realm of decision theory in addition to biology. How do people understand their options and how do they understand what is acceptable? Here the issue is the shift to thinking it is ok to get high as the gateway. The counter pressures then come from how one understands what it is ok to get high with and why. Here the culture and subculture are important, and what ones friends are doing and making available. In the background is our cultural shift to seeing chemistry as part of how we manage our experience and behavior. Once one buys into that why not ‘self medicate’?
From reading the news, sounds like prescription opioids are a the "gateway" drugs leading to black market drug use and death. Forget marijuana, study opioids.
10
So basically we have rat studies concluding that cigarettes and alcohol can act as gateway drugs so now policy is being developed re marijuana. In what dystopian world does that make any sense? If we want to use Dr Kanel's data then we should be preaching about the dangers of cigarettes and alcohol.
5
life long pot head. ashtrays graced opposite corners of the family dining table. only if grandma was over did the parents not smoke during the meal. i thought tobacco i.e. nicotine was the gateway drug. that and the beer the neighbor constantly drank when not at work. but it was the 60's then and helicopter parents did not exist. dealt with a 40 year nicotine habit but i have stayed with the pot. pot is a cul de sac drug it seems that is the point of this research that has commenced ll my life. but it being a new century the old folks have to scare their new charges once again. ah, the cycle of life.
4
Now , the theory of Gateway drugs as applied to humans is simply a matter of curiosity and a willingness to experiment with mind altering substances. Fear and simple minded individuals will be less likely to graduate to drugs as part of their lifestyle. As with most artists they experiment with their art, try different things outside of the norm and are often chastised by less creative people.
An addictive personality does not exist unto itself bnut rather is a reflex mechanism set up by continued use or activity that creates a habitual reflex. As seen in running for instance . a habitual runner does not feel good if they do not continue to run as they have before.
As an understanding of how individuals can stop this reflex action time seems to be the best answer as first thinking about using a drug will give personal permission to go through the motions to secure the drug and take it . As time passes one might think about the drug and be tempted to seek it out but does not as the matter of time breaks down the reflex action which is addiction, dependence ,whatever.
Most people dop drugs because they like them for some reason, it feels good , takes away pain actual and emotional and proven to be some people do better overall with certain drugs . Look at professional athletics
as in the Olympics where drug performance use is all over the place. If I can get from point A to point BB faster then anybody else by using a drug I just might use it.
Legalize all of them !!!
1
I loved Doug McClaren's comment. It's really quite accurate in lots of cases....
great sense of humour about a somewhat obvious reality.
The rapidly declining anti pot crowd, in today's world, carry all the heft of an ant hoping to stop a freight train.
Drug use is as American as breathing. The Catholic church uses the hard drug alcohol as one of it's very foundations - "drink this wine as if it is my blood". The Pope drinks the hard drug alcohol. The monasteries in California founded the wine industry there, others the beer breweries in Europe, and numerous excellent liquors. Christianity married to the hard drug alcohol has it roots in the very founding of the religion, with that sandals wearing, hippyish leader. People are certainly free to live in denial of this reality, but reality it is.
Now, with the opiate crisis, people who desperately need pain killers to lead normal lives, will be forced to live in excruciating pain. That is a crime.
9
Marijuana? Really? Once Sessions and the Reefer Madness generation die off, there will be no one who will even entertain the idea that this is where our public health dollars need to go - establishing marijuana as a “gateway drug.” Not drug treatment. Not for women’s health. Not for finding new antibiotics. Marijuana.
11
Haha. That's what we all thought in the 60s and 50 years later those stodgy old squares still haven't died off yet!
1
The "real" gateway to drugs is poverty, lack of real opportunity, and a culture that denigrates being smart or artistic -- unless it's being "smart enough" to cheat people and not pay taxes like the current WH occupant.
People look to drugs and alcohol to escape. The 'high' lets us forget for a time whatever it is we can't deal with. It's not always or only the specific chemical that's addictive -- it's the escape. Then the chemicals take over.
Weed, besides being less harmful than opioids, alcohol, and tobacco, can have the effect of enhancing creative thinking and helping people to find other ways of coping. "And even D.A.R.E. now acknowledges that the overwhelming majority of people who smoke pot or drink never graduate to pills and powders."
Happy people who are well fed, live in relative security, and able to get most of what they want in life don't look for ways to escape. Instead of focusing on marijuana as "the problem" why not focus on the real issues.
What real issues? Start with NOT giving billions in tax breaks to rich corporations and billionaires at the expense of health care and food for children, giving average workers a raise, supporting public education instead of gutting it, restoring music, art, and physical education to public school systems, making sure that no American goes hungry, and finding a way to stop the ever-widening income gap so that there can be a middle class again with those who want to join it having the opportunity to do so.
34
BRAVO!!!!
When there is NO HOPE why bother? This is truly the reason people are drawn to substances. When the individual has basic needs met, and a safe environment then the need to fill voids with something that provides quick pleasure will not be present. Yes, returning to activities that help us express our individuality such as music and art that give pleasure and meaning to others may just be what is needed to heal our selves and our sickening middle school society.
7
With all due respect - science tells us that childhood trauma combined with a genetic predisposition - are the markers indicating a propensity for a drug or
alcohol addiction. While psychosocial issues like poverty have an impact, it is minimal.
‘The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think’
‘But in the 1970s, a professor of Psychology in Vancouver called Bruce Alexander noticed something odd about this experiment. The rat is put in the cage all alone. It has nothing to do but take the drugs. What would happen, he wondered, if we tried this differently? So Professor Alexander built Rat Park. It is a lush cage where the rats would have colored balls and the best rat-food and tunnels to scamper down and plenty of friends: everything a rat about town could want. What, Alexander wanted to know, will happen then?
In Rat Park, all the rats obviously tried both water bottles, because they didn’t know what was in them. But what happened next was startling.
The rats with good lives didn’t like the drugged water. They mostly shunned it, consuming less than a quarter of the drugs the isolated rats used. None of them died. While all the rats who were alone and unhappy became heavy users, none of the rats who had a happy environment did.”
www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html
11
I have known hundreds of people in my life who’ve smoked or still smoke pot. I’ve never known any of them to be addicted to opioids.
17
Have you visited any youth recovery programs in your community?
3
Why is this article so focused on weed when the underlying study has nothing to do with it? Indeed, the underlying study found cocaine to not be a "gateway drug"-- is there any reason to think weed is more likely to be a "gateway drug"?
8
I'm sorry, but this is NOT a public health issue. It's a civil rights issue. It's nobody's business but mine if I want to unwind on a Friday night with a martini or a joint. Alcohol has been proven to have many, many lousy side effects and it is a bane to Public Health. But, we tried banning it and look how that turned out. Because, it is the right of people to do as they please with themselves.
If people are so darned worried about the public health, maybe they would like to take a look at Gun Restrictions? Guns are certainly a menace to the public. Whereas a stoner might cause a run on Doritos at the 7-11, obviously a crazed man with a semi-automatic weapon can kill hundreds of people in an instant. Which is worse for "public health"? hmm??
27
Let's keep the medical use of marijuana separate from the non-medical use of marijuana. With the regards to the non-medical use of marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse: 1) marijuana can be addictive 2) marijuana is the most commonly identified drug in deadly automobile crashes 3) marijuana is linked to lower grades, school failure and a poorer quality of life 4) marijuana is linked to some mental illnesses.
Life is hard enough. We don't need the negative effects of marijuana to make it harder!
3
You are relying on very outdated, disproven studies based on the political theories of Nixon and so the studies say what he wanted them to, not that they were real studies. This has been proven time and time again, THE Most often found drug in deadly accidents is Nicotine, followed by alcohol. Not pot.
Sorry, your post does not pass the modern science smell test, it reeks instead of ancient, dead and disproven political views.
12
The data is not outdated. It’s simply the facts. Please go to the National Institute on Drug Abuse website. Https://www.drugabuse.gov.
1
I went to that site and read this: " [T]he majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, 'harder' substances. "
I also remind you of the "post hoc" fallacy. Just because A preceded B doesn't mean that A caused B.
Marijuana smokers are more likely than non marijuana smokers to use opiods, at least among the hundreds of addicts I know.
I believe the reason for this is two-fold: a general disposition to get high.
People who are inclined to use one, are more likely to use both.
Also,those who smoke pot find out there is not the hysterical consequences people attribute to DRUGS OF ALL KINDS, and figure out, if pot isn't so bad, maybe heroin isn't either.
And further, breaking the law isn't that bad, either. If pot was legal, people would still be detered from harder drugs because they haven't yet broken the law.
3
I know humdreds of people who use pot and none of them use opioids. Yet manu people who were prescribed oxycotin become heroin addicts. Sessions should be going after the pharmas that caused the opioid crisis and stop this distraction over pot. But that would mean going after his and his fellow Republicans big pharma donors. I don't see that happening anytime soon.
As any parent of teen boys knows, testosterone is the premier gateway drug, leading to disobedience, tobacco, video game addiction, beer, pot, girls, and so on. But it wears off in 6 or 7 decades.
25
As a front line cannabis activist it is easy for me to see the new forces that have lined up against the legalization of our largest cash crop. Please do not be fooled. Cannabis isn't going away anytime soon. This new push against weed is about money, power and political payoffs. Surprised? I think not. A hundred billion dollar weed industry has emerged from the gray markets and the radicals in DC want to molest it. Good luck that. The last drug war utterly failed. Mary Jane is a vital funding source for many a town and county across this nation. It's a cottage industry that keeps most of its revenues in the local economy, too. Violent crime has dropped in every state that has legalized weed. This new attack on legalization returns the industry to those who are willing to go underground and risk everything and they are legion. The real crime is that they'd spend billions of our tax dollars so wastefully. Trump has gone beyond the reasonable pro's or con's of the issue. Legalizing cannabis has always been a civil rights issue and he is clueless . . . again. Note to commenter: Goldman Sachs and AIG rated last year's US crop at over $125 billion.
24
. "Violent crime has dropped in every state that has legalized weed."...How many states would that include? And has violent crime increased in every state that hasn't legalized weed?
1
Tobacco was once defended as important to the economy....
Actually, some of the "push" against legalizing THC products comes from well-done studies documenting it's addiction potential (same % as alchohol about 17%) with regular use, and it's associations with later addictions. Deny, ignore, or try to refute without solid evidence, if you will. Smoke to your heart's content. One of the reasons potheads don't believe evidence that it's sometimes addictive is the very denial that is inherent in the brain process of addiction.
I grew up in a physically and emotionally abusive religious cult that I left the moment I turned 18. I had a variety of mental issues upon my escape, exacerbated by the sudden adult freedom, and I kind of went hog wild.
I'd started smoking cigarettes when I was 14...tough to hide from a cult, but their focus on god and hell made it easier. Tried weed when I was 16 during a small period of freedom and did not like it at all, but I did thoroughly enjoy the blackouts that alcohol provided.
It wasn't until I left that I really broke it open. From 18 to 23 or so, I did copious amounts of meth, coke, acid, and ecstasy on daily basis...I lived in upstate Minnesota/Iowa at the time, so mostly meth...and also drank myself to sleep most days. I have ADHD so the meth and coke really helped me get a handle on all the mental problems I'd developed from the cult.
Quit doing hard drugs for the most part when I was around 22 or 23 once I started being able to manage things and also once I got a clear picture of where I was headed if I kept it up.
But then I landed in the hospital at 25 for 3 years and spent that time putting hundreds of Oxycontin up my nose, morphine in my veins, etc.. Quit that on my own with a prescription of methadone once my health cleared up.
Now in my late 30s, I smoke copious amounts of weed, almost never drink, almost never do hard drugs. Not only that, but the weed makes me not *want* to do the others.
But that's me.
13
I am a 100% Disabled Veteran who is 84 y.o. and I have taken weed on and off most of my life, and was never addicted because of my stopping on and off and never experienced any withdrawals.
Since I have chronic PTSD, and the weed sure helps get thru this life. I prefer to bake pot in foods to ingest by eating it.
6
Dear NYT. Thanks for this article. We in the Mike Pence moralist dept are very glad you bought back this ancient shibbolah. Anyway who cares how many die from cigarettes or alcohol?? Alcohol is a drink not a drug and while cigarettes might kill you but at least they won't bring you pleasure.
Booze built the British Empire or as Churchill put it, the British navy that built it ran on 'Rum buggery and the lash' and Shanghaid sailors from other nations. Booze helps kill the pain of exploitation and brutality and brinsg out the best in the aggressive alpha males. Rape, assault and debauchery!
I'll drink to your health' is like saying sterility increases one's chances of conception. Look cigarette smoke may be as addictive as heroin, stink out the neighborhood, decrease your chances of meeting an attractive mate and waste your money but at least it gives you something for that all cash well spent!! Cancer!
10
Oh god! The next thing you know a study will come out showing that those who don't attend church on Sunday will lead people to use illicit drugs.
19
READ "Multidisciplinary Asso. for Psychedelic Studies." or MAPS. It is online and has the greatest number of studies and the gov. works with them and supplies the various drugs being tested. Including Cannabis.
The results are medically very helpful with many conditions both physical and psychologically. Read their Annual Reports.
First study cited... sorry, but Alcohol is not Marijuana, so, sorry, but that rodent does not fly. So, best y'all make Alcohol illegal.... oh wait, that didn't work so well the first time....
Wanna know what the real 'gateway' is? It's when creeps in authority, like, say, Jeff Sessions, lie to the country because, you see, when a kid has been lied to by authority figures he/she is told to respect and then discovers the lie, well, at that moment every single thing the authorities have ever said to that kid is now suspect as a lie, and that is the thing that liberates youth to explore well beyond the narrow and absurd boundaries drawn by, well, creeps like Jeff Sessions.
19
Alcohol, not marijuana is America's gateway drug. What is the first intoxicant teenagers sample? Beer or wine. Alcohol is America's most abused drug. I smoked marijuana for many years. The only thing it led to was a larger waistline from satisfying the munchies.
23
But then a whole lot more people use alcohol, so of course it causes more problems. And the argument that because alcohol is worse therefore marijuana is ok makes no sense at all. The issue should stand or fall on its own merits without reference to anything else.
Completely irresponsible reporting. People that don't actually read the article will be left with the impression there is value to gateway theory.
That sort of study is a waste of resources, period and the researchers are not helping anyone.
17
So many people put this so well that it’s hard to follow up. However, my perspective (especially from a state where marijuana is legal) is similar to most of the commenters. I have long seen alcohol as one of the most dangerous substances someone can use, all because of ease of access. No one is asking for a prohibition but this country has a problem with mental health and “self medicating” and ignore the signs of alcoholism because they’re too busy going after those dang nab Mary Jane smokers. With all their snack cravings and hilarious jokes.
13
Marijuana is not the gateway to harder drugs; however, the people you smoke that pot with (or buy it from) often are. Therein lies the rub...
4
Right on and thanks to new laws you now can remove the gateway "or you buy it from" in some states
2
I've always thought if someone's personality was inclined to try marijuana, they would also be inclined to try other things. The gateway theory is hogwash.
3
Maybe, maybe not. Is it possible that if someone tries marijuana without suffering ill effects they might be more inclined to try something else?
Speculation is not good policy.
A Comeback for the Gateway Drug Theory?
A Self Fulfilling Prophecy Based on Misleading Headlines?
Can I Telepathically Communicate With My Pet Hamster?
12
Why the stock photo of marijuana? Very odd way to frame an article about alcohol being a gateway drug.
9
There's probably nothing the DEA would like more than "proving" marijuana was a "gateway" drug. This would confirm their longstanding desire to keep the Killer Weed in the same classification as, say, heroin.
7
Agree with other posters here. The legal drugs tobacco and alcohol are the biggest problem and most certainly the gateway.
Regarding the 'rat' studies, check out "Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari" on youtube. This talk discusses research showing that rats choose the 'bad' stuff only when they lack a comfortable environment and connection to others. This has been correlated to humans.
Regarding politicians opposed, Christie has shown what kind of person he is. As a former prosecutor he is thoroughly ingrained in the for profit private prison system that locks people up for so others can make a buck. Sessions who has perjured himself to a congressional committee needs to jump in his time machine and go back to the 1980's for a just say no tour. He can then proceed back 150 yrs and buy himself some human beings. I'm sure he's behind funding and publicizing new research. Why are we still debating his credibility. Prosecute him.
Finally Portugal's approach to the who drug issue has add ample time to be borne out and is well documented. All outlawing of has substances in the US has always been socio-politically motivated. From marijuana earlier in the 20th century to vilify/persecute Mexicans to the 1970 controlled substances act to persecute minorities and anti-war protesters.
Schedule one is a ridiculous cover for pharmaceutical companies.
7
"Agree with other posters here. The legal drugs tobacco and alcohol are the biggest problem and most certainly the gateway."...I agree. But what has that got to do with anything? Is that somehow supposed to be an endorsement for using marijuana?
1
W.A.,
The article tries to reanimate the zombie notion that marijuana is this reprehensible cause of individuals using other in some instances stronger more dangerous substances. This idea has been debunked. In my experience tobacco and alcohol typically precede someone's use of marijuana and subsequently other drugs. Many different factors can cause a person to use substances. Ultimately abuse is the issue not simply use. I've know many people that have tried/experimented with 'more serious' substances and never abused them or allowed that use to negatively impact their lives.
Not an endorsement. Every adult needs to make and be responsible for their own decision. I can only speak for myself, from my own experiences with the substance and my observations of others. Many people attest to positive physical and psychological experiences. The continued vilification and Schedule 1 classification is absurd and just unfounded.
If it doesn't work for you or you are unable to engage in the use of a substance or any behavior and not let it interfere with normal functioning then by all means don't do it.
Paradoxically, the actual, most effective gateway are the fear mongers themselves. When a vulnerable person tries marijuana and nothing catastrophic happens, they’re likely to think, “Yeah, what else you been lying to me about?”
Seriously, the real DRUG is the money that Law Enforcement gets for airplanes, boats, guns, overtime, and of course, private prisons. Law Enforcement needs and wants to keep as many drugs as possible on Schedule I, at any cost, even by gutting an entire society, if necessary.
11
A friend of mine told me of her first exposure to Cocaine. She had recently moved to Palm Beach and the drug was served after lunch by the butler! Not being interested, she excused herself, thanked her hostess for the lunch and left.
As to marijuana, it is a blessing for those who suffer from illnesses like multiple sclerosis which cause intense pain. For sufferers, it would be humane for every state to legalize it for medical use.
As an aside, it should by noted that many people will self medicate with something for their mental pain. Trump may not drink, but he consumes burgers, fries and lots of ice cream and cake. And he uses nasty Twittering as an anger release. Unfortunately his need for "getting even" can damage not only this country but the whole world. And anyone who thinks he is their friend needs to read the story about how the diamond encrusted watch he gave his mentor Roy Cohn in a Bulgari box turned out to be fake!
4
"Just say no" works about as well as abstinence-only education. Lazy, perfunctory bureaucrats are not the individuals that ought to be forming educational policy regarding substances which can be as relatively benign as cannabis, or as addictive and potentially lethal as Heroin is.
4
Has there ever been a time in America when outright lies haven't been called "research" by people with an axe to grind?
5
My wife’s grandfather was a doctor, practicing in Chicago in the 1920s, 1930s through the early 1950s. His focus was on helping addicts break from their addictions. He said that he never met a heroin or cocaine addict who didn’t start with marijuana.
Selective memory. I bet they started with alcohol even before the marijuana. Actually, I bet they all started with milk, or Coca Cola.
Remember... correlation does not equal causation.
5
And I'll bet that 95% of those herion addicts got started with milk, the original gateway drug!
2
He probably also didn't meet the marijuana users who did not become heroin or cocaine addicts.
4
By that logic you have to ban Alcohol all Coffee. All are either stimulants or depressants. Utah will be thrilled. At least Smoking would have to be banned too...
2
Did you know that the longevity of people who live in Utah is greater than most other states?
If marijuana has any kind of gateway effect, I suspect it is social networking: buying any illegal drug, even a soft one, puts you in contact with the same set of people who will sell you harder stuff. Making marijuana legal removes that link.
8
If ANYTHING is a 'gateway drug' then it is sugar and corn syrup sweeteners that are the major culprit. As a child they give you a major rush of energy and then a crash, people get addicted to sugar at a very early age in America and then we are surrounded by Coffee, Tea and Cigarettes, all of which, while legal, are encountered daily, on the street, yet they are Drugs as well since they offer Ups, Downs; physically and psychologically addicting, all of them.
Yet society does not treat these as Drugs, and so our young get very confused and learn quickly to distrust these DARE programs as they can plainly see the hypocrisy of the 'Just Say No' folks, who give their lectures while they drink their coffee and then step outside for a cig. Kids are not stupid, but they are being lied to by society about these substances. So it is no wonder that they disregard the screeds against all drugs and try them out on their own, and we all see the results of that.
Like on Southpark's Mr Makey "Drugs are Bad, MKAY" has gotten to be Very Hollow statement these days.
1
My worst fear realized. Sessions will use this as an excuse to attack legal marijuana. The clear evidence is that over prescribed opioids are the cause of the problem.
7
Many here have stated that unhappiness and poverty are the gateway drugs. I agree. But I also think anxiety, underemployment, bullying, physical pain and drop dead abject boredom are huge contributors.
These aspects of daily life are getting worse with every dystopian day. I suppose the beatings will continue until morale improves. The only recourse is a dime bag - at least one can forget about it whilst in the middle of a beating.
2
Perhaps if parents stop abusing their kids.
Perhaps if police stopped harassing mostly male teens in the streets, and sometimes shooting unarmed ones to death.
Perhaps if we stopped bombing foreigners because its "in our interests."
Perhaps if we balance government budgets rather than rack up debt year after year showing no regard for citizens.
Perhaps if we had a fair tax system that ensured most taxes were being levied fairly, evenly and assuredly.
Perhaps if the courts ruled to protect our constitutional rights to "equal protection under the law" rather than allowing law after law target/benefit just a small group rather than the common good.
Perhaps if all these drugs were safely legal instead of run by criminal gangs.
Perhaps not.
6
I think cocaine is a mistake, that's all. Take a leaf, coca, with 66 active ingredients and reduce it to its single most active ingredient, cocaine, present at a few parts per hundred, and of course you get a distorted drug, a vicious accelerant.
Humans are not meant to inhale cocaine but humans have used coca leaf for thousands of years in South America and often the "drug" has been part and parcel of civilization.
So now what we need is to understand coca, which can be used by an individual to foster clarity, will and endurance, but also should be tried as an aid in two epidemics, obesity (because it neutralizes hunger) and opioids (because it can provide a basis for self-esteem and willpower, if properly used in a comprehensive addiction program).
The South American countries culturally involved with coca, Peru and Colombia and Bolivia and Brazil, also have much to gain from the task of rescuing coca from the world of cocaine trafficking and learning or remembering how to appreciate the character of the leaf and its potential uses for societies. Because these countries suffer the ill-effects of cocaine trafficking and they urgently need to free themselves from this ongoing tragedy whereby cocaine corrupts everything, a half-a-century tragedy.
But all countries where cocaine is used have an interest in separating cocaine from coca and studying and experimenting scientifically with the coca leaf.
The traditional NGOs that deal with drugs have ignored all this for too long.
3
It is misleading to refer to a gateway "theory" or "effect." These are scientific terms that have specific meaning, and the gateway idea has never met them. "Concept" is more accurate.
None of the studies you mention, except one in progress, find marijuana to be a "gateway drug." I believe many studies have tried and failed. Most heroin addicts have used marijuana. So have half of everybody else.
There is no science here, only bunk.
4
what about the possibility that people who buy drugs on the street might first purchase marijuana and then be offered heroin or other opioids by the same dealer? So marijuana is not so much a "gateway" drug in that it leads to heroin use through some sort of biological mechanism but rather a "lure" to introduce to a potential "customer" a drug with far more addictive properties?
Too late. My local beach on weekends already smells like a Grateful Dead concert. On my daily walks, it's been impossible not to notice it's been growing stronger week by week these last few months, I presume in anticipation. Come the first of the year, "Marijuana Outlets," as they have been officially designated here, open across California. This genie called freedom is not going back in the bottle.
Whether you think its a disease or a vice, gateway or just a penchant,law-enforcement is a destructive waste of resources.
Legalize cannabis, but regulate its distribution and prohibit marketing. Sell it in pharmacies. Cut it with the lolipops and hoooplah. (just feeds Sessions' Drag-net approach to the question).
Offer free, clean, strictly on-site boots of heroine or cocaine clinics to regsitered, proven addicts, given by trained staff and with constant presence of therapists and trained "listeners".
1
I haven't smoked pot in 35 years, but it left me hopelessly addicted to potato chips. If that's not science, I don't know what is.
6
The only drug that I was ever addicted to is tobacco. Fortunately, I was able to stop, but many people cannot. It is much worse for one's health than cannabis or alcohol, and far more addictive. Yet the tobacco lobby continues to promote their product, and for years companies withheld their own research showing its deleterious effects.
1
Alcohol is actually just as bad or worse then tobacco. Alcohol destroys and kill thousands of people every year. Cannabis needs to be legalized in every state. It's been proven when Medical Cannabis has been legalized in a state it decreases the use and deaths from opioids. Tobacco and alcohol use needs to decrease in this Country to stop the needless deaths from alcohol and tobacco. Legalize Cannabis.
1
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences declared “there is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.”
Another misleading article from NY Times. I thought you would have learned your lesson after your nonstop coverage of Hillary's email "scandal" but apparently the temptation to see your name in print, DOUGLAS QUENQUA was too enticing. Did your journalism teacher ever mention the subject of SLANTED NEWS?
2
Gateway Drug is just another name for a substance that is being used as a substitute or facilitator for some mental/emotional/spiritual need -- something to make a person "feel better".
Alcohol, nicotine, pot, uppers and downers (pills), cocaine, opiods -- are all poor substitutes for a fulfilling life and mental/emotional/spiritual health.
When these poor substitutes cease to fill the need -- and for some people, they seem sufficient -- users seek something more powerful -- I watched this happen to my friends all through the sixties, and saw many young lives destroyed as a result. It should be noted that all of these chemical substitutes are debilitating -- harmful -- for ALL of their users. It is a socially enforced unscientific myth that they are "harmless' (stretched to the ultimate limit by those claiming they are "helpful").
There is a separate problem of addiction for those who suffer chronic pain -- pain needs to be treated by medical professionals. It cannot simply be ignored because the doctor isn't feeling the pain -- failure to treat real physical pain out of the doctor's fear of possible addition in the patient is unscientific itself. Medical science exists to relieve suffering -- not to prolong it due to social pressures. Patients properly treated for pain -- even chronic, lifetime pain -- will not become heroin addicts. They may become dependent on their pain medication -- which they need, dependency or not.
8
Must be nice to be so high and mighty. The founding fathers, for the most part, were enthusiastic drinkers - the American revolution was partly planned in taverns up and down the eastern seaboard. Thomas Jefferson, one of the more enlightened people in history, imported tens of thousands of bottles of wine from France, during his presidency.
Steve Jobs, certainly one of the greatest industrial innovators in history, loved LSD in his early days and was an enthusiastic pot smoker. Pot smoker Bob Dylan just received the Nobel prize in literature.
Though there have been many casualties, as you pointed out, there are also some amazing success stories. DNA was originally decoded by a scientist under the influence of LSD.
In a perfect, utopian world, yes, people would probably be happy to just exist. That world is nowhere in sight, and many people, myself included, take Mr. Jefferson's words about the
"inalienable right" to the "pursuit of happiness", quite literally.
2
Largely agree with your observations, particularly about the social (and legal) pressures on physicians. Many of my fellow physicians simply refuse to prescribe narcotics for anyone for any reason. They don't want the hassle of dealing with the extensive regulations, bureaucratic hurdles and "best practice" monitoring of patient's adherence to their treatment plan. All too many pain specialists have superstrict rules about patient's use of prescribed narcotics and will discharge ("fire") any patient who turns up "dirty" on routine urine drug screens. In addition, they have a nontrivial conflict of interest in that they do a variety of injection treatments for pain, for which they get paid handsomely. Also, the poor availability of drug treatment programs complicates treating addicts in a timely way and the pending cut in Medicaid funding (by block granting it to the states) will only make things worse. Another recent wrinkle is that both goverment and private insurance has started limiting how much narcotics the patient can get in a well intended but misguided (in my view) effort to stem the overdose epidemic. Problem is that some of these patients are going to hit the streets, where they will find that heroin is the cheapest narcotic available, which will lead to more, not fewer overdose deaths. Until we start regarding and treating addiction and chronic pain as the diseases they are, the current mess will go on and on.
2
Speaking as one who's dealt with chronic pain for years, thank you for your second paragraph. Hydrocodone--an opiod--keeps me on my feet (at least most of the time). I have utterly no interest in anything stronger, or increasing my dose. My physician keeps me on a tight leash. and that's OK by me.
The irony of the research is that the two "gateway" drugs studied - alcohol and nicotine - are perfectly legal and easily accessible to minors.
57
The whole calculus on Marijuana being a "gateway" drug is flawed. The original study was performed by the CASA center at Columbia University, which surveyed habitual cocaine users and asked how many of them had used Marijuana before using cocaine. The researchers then divided the number of cocaine users who had started with Marijuana by the number who went straight to cocaine and came up with some huge number - "Marijuana users are 85 times more likely to move on to cocaine."
What the study showed, in fact, is the reverse. That using cocaine means that you are more likely to have used Marijuana first, not that using Marijuana leads to cocaine use.
Something like 1 in 4 adults will admit to smoking Marijuana within their lifetimes. If Marijuana were a gateway to harder drugs, we would see much higher rates of use of those other drugs. We do not.
The vast majority of people who smoke Marijuana do not use any hard drugs. However, the vast majority of people who use harder drugs started with Marijuana. Using this as an excuse to criminalize Marijuana makes about as much sense as banning Bicycles because people who ride Motorcycles are more likely to have ridden a Bicycle first.
39
But in this study, using marijuana did stimulate cocaine usage, while cocaine usage didn't stimulate marijuana usage. Of course, it could be that the latter gives a much bigger bang for the buck, so few go from preferring hard drugs to soft.
The "causal" relationship is individual and unique to each person.
The "connection" is whether or not the drug in question is filling the need someone using multiple substances is trying to fill.
I suspect that the use of any combination of 2 or more drugs indicates severe danger of addiction not because of the types of drug but because of the multiple drug use. That person is trying to accomplish a specific internal state of being with the drugs, they are not having fun or getting high as is commonly imagined. They will act out those lies of having fun and getting high to be high in social use situations because that is what society expects when people use "recreationally".
No one who is partying to let off steam wants to be around someone who is using to feel normal and sober or worse to stop some internal pain by making themselves insensate.
Parent's if you want to protect your kids see to your own maturation and personal development then to your child's to the best of your ability. ex. The boy in Tennessee, those bullies are doing that because they feel insecure. The act of bullying him diverts focus from them to him and lets them falsely feel powerful and safe. You have to tell him that now, but it will probably take until he is 16 or so before it registers with him exactly what that means and delivers the internal comfort it is meant to. This is why you must build trust so that the child trusts you when they do not have full understanding of the principle.
2
Here's a scientific discovery I just made:
Ok - here we go again.
I am not going to argue Marijuana is good for anyone but it is not as bad as some of the medicine we have to "treat" pain, addiction and suffering offered by big pharma and costing thousands of dollars.
1. Alcohol, Cocaine and Nicotine are all different drugs from Marijuana.
2. Nicotine, Alcohol both contribute to physical addictions. Marijuana has no physical addictive properties. It is a mental addiction that is reasonably easy to quit when desired by simply not smoking it.
3. Sound evidence exists showing Marijuana can help treat addiction to more powerful and physically destructive drugs.
Also - no one has EVER OD'd on Marijuana.
24
It's interesting how this article mentions alcohol 9 times and marijuana/pot 11 times in discussing a study that involved alcohol but did not involve marijuana. The study has nothing to do with marijuana. But I guess since we already resolved the controversy over alcohol prohibition nearly a century ago, the study just isn't sexy enough for the NYT on its own terms.
11
Cigarettes are the real gateway drug.
10
Formula and breast milk are...after that, we try all sorts of stuff.
1
As the late actor Philip Seymour said: “we shall see“. And at the rate things are going, I’m already Smelling lots of it (and getting a contact high from following drivers that are smoking pot, flaunting the law). But then again, for the week souls who have the propensity to become addicted to any kind of drug, maybe life is a gateway drug
1
The political "gateway drug" argument falls apart when politicians claim marijuana IS a gateway drug because it is NOT legal, but alcohol and cigarettes are NOT gateway drugs because they ARE legal. Not to mention the LEGAL prescription opoids; a far greater problem.
You will not change people's beliefs about drugs and addiction. You may get people to understand that the real gateway drugs have been legal all along and they are only protecting big business by keeping cannabis illegal.
9
Anything can be a 'gateway' to hard drug use. Drug testing is a big industry. Alcohol is a drug, cigarettes are drug laden. In Nevada the alcohol distributors are now the marijuana distributors. Big pharma does not want legal marijuana and its products because they compete with prescription drugs and are probably safer and maybe cheaper. Once the feds realize that marijuana might be less harmful then alcohol and legalize it big pharma will jump right in.
4
Any substance, in and of itself, does not "cause" addiction. However, many individuals do have a genetic predisposition for addiction -to almost anything - based on the quality and quantity of dopamine receptors in the brain. This would be the first "gateway" to assess, which is actually possible through genetic testing. Indeed, this is one of the reason people under 25 should avoid ANY routine use of intoxicants as they can interfere with the biology of the developing brain. The second set of factors are environmental, as the article points out. Individuals considering using marijuana as part of a daily medicinal and/or recreational routine should assess their own risks and act accordingly. From a societal perspective, marijuana likely offers more good than harm, and responsible users should know how they may be affected.
4
The fact of the matter is that the Nixon administration hated the fact that the anti-war folks and hippies were smoking pot, and decided to go after them on the specious grounds that they were smoking pot. It really had nothing to do with "gateway drugs" or medical reasons, it was originally a political fight. All the "research" supporting these spurious claims was invented to justify the political goals and to make cannabis (again without evidence) a schedule 1 substance to put legal teeth into pursuing these political goals.
11
The idea that people tend to self medicate is, to me, the most reasonable.
We KNOW, for example, that different spirits will induce different types of inebriation. Drunk from wine is different from drunk on beer is different from Vodka is different from Whiskey and the list goes on and on (not forgetting that the chemical makeup of alcohol doesn't change). This is why some people are Gin drinkers and others are Wine tipplers. They prefer the particular buzz.
Now, the same may be said of Herbs and tobaccos and pills and powders.
Generally, when one finds the buzz that numbs their particular pain, that's where they stay (so long as that pain is static, anyway. Add new pains, add up the new numbers.)
The issue is hierarchy of availability. It's not that Herb is the gateway to speed, it's that if you are not in the drug culture, your first step is more likely to be MJ. Once it is seen that you aren't going to NARC, well then, you're more likely to meet someone who will offer you something that will make you comfortably numb.
So the relationship is more casual than causal. And if you yank Herb up from the underground then it stops filling the introductory function. (IMHO)
Thank you for your recommendation.
4
The real slippery slope is causality which is ambiguous at best. Here is the simplest refutation of the gateway hypothesis. Individuals who have interest in trying substances that alter regular quotidian mind states are more likely to want to experiment with a variety of these substances than those who refrain from all of them. The same argument holds true for the nonsense that smoking marijuana saps ambition and causes laziness. No. People who are less ambitious and like to lie around are just much likelier to want to smoke marijuana.
2
Cannabis as a gateway drug is the kind of FAKE NEWS that was generated decades ago for various reasons. The alcohol industry picked that up and pushed it for obvious reasons: stoners are not drunks.
Now it is being revived and, once again, the only thing they could find was that other legal drugs -- alcohol and nicotine -- are the ones that are gateway drugs. So, why is this discredited concept being revived now? Obvious, it helps the personal goals of the, dare I say it, FAKE, President and the FAKE Attorney General.
This is yet another distraction. Don't let it make you lose track of what is really going on.
5
Sort of like saying that anti-evolution "creationism" or counter-factual "tax-cuts-will-fix all" economic are "making a comeback," no?
Basically the same, discredited idea being re-floated again...
Just like the (absurd) "just say no" anti-drug message someone was discussing the other day, even on NPR ("Now, why DOESN'T this idea work"?)
4
Why isn't there a study on what happens when someone uses prescription opioids and whether they become addicted and what do they use afterward? How about someone who never used drugs and what happened to them after they used opioids? Opioids are the worst problem right now!
1
The headline and primary image for this article are misleading clickbait, which is disappointing. The studies cited herein support what marijuana legalization advocates have been arguing for decades: alcohol increases the likelihood that people will make poor decisions, while marijuana can actually lead to better outcomes.
Notably, none of the studies cited in this article support a gateway theory for opioid addiction. Why mention the opioid epidemic in the third paragraph?
There is no reason to adopt a framework that is unsupported by the evidence simply because it is being foisted on the public by the right.
3
Both alcohol and tobacco use can have FATAL consequences. Not so with cannabis. That is FACT. These studies on rodents, while interesting, have little or no bearing on human substance use. That Quenqua would use "Gateway Drug" in the headline, speaks more to his affinity for dog whistle clickbait, than his interest in imparting any real scientific information.
Hey Douglas, how about writing about the real medical benefits that cannabis is being shown to provide for people suffering all sorts of ailments? Rather than providing fodder for backward-thinking Sessions fans, how about giving us news about recent advancements in discovering the beneficial aspects of the alkaloids in the plant? Humans have been using cannabis for thousands (at least) of years. Our government has been lying to us about it since 1937.
Shine a light in the right place.
9
"Both alcohol and tobacco use can have FATAL consequences. Not so with cannabis. That is FACT."...Can you support your fact with evidence? Isn't it true that people who fly airplanes, and drive heavy equipment are periodically tested for marijuana. Why would that be? Ignorance of fact?
Marijuana was a gateway drug for me -- to tobacco. Too bad it wasn't heroin, that would've been easier to kick.
3
Take it from someone who has observed and participated in real-life "lab experiments" for over 30 years and has lived to tell about it.
ALCOHOL is the gateway drug. Not weed.
50
Re: "...ALCOHOL is the gateway drug. Not weed..." {Darrell Dunn}
For EVERY narcotics O.D. I responded to as a EMT-Basic / EMT-Paramedic, (22 yrs / 16 yrs, respectively), I saw dozens of times that number in 'alcohol-addiction' patients, 'N, 100's of times that number in 'nicotine addiction' patients!
We tried alcohol prohibition; Al Capone / other gangsters LOVED it!! We have exactly that same situation today, with, (so, called), 'cocaine-billionaires', etc.!
If I read the article correctly, the research cited implicates alcohol and nicotine as gateway drugs, not marihuana. So, amoung or other questions one can ask, why does the photo accompanying the article implicate pot? Should it have pictured a drink and a smokeing cigarette?
29
The “gateway” is that we teach kids that all drugs will Ruin Your Life equally. So once they try one, and immediately realize that this is nonsense, they feel free to experiement with others. Teach responsibility with some drugs, and teach to absolutely stay away from opiates and cocaine, and we’d be much better off.
27
Better to teach them to be self aware and trusting of you enough that they tell you about the internal issues nagging them. Thing is all too often the parent is the source of the reason people abuse substances to self medicate.
1
Coca Cola is a drug (a toxic one). Cigarettes are a drug. Beer is a drug. Coffee is a drug. All pharmaceuticals are drugs. Every one of these are both more addictive and more dangerous than marijuana. The classification of certain arbitrarily substances as illegal is political not scientific.
1
There's zero debate based on evidence. The 'gateway' theory has been wholly debunked and disproven for decades.
It is revived by prohibitionists, puritans, and those in industries at risk of loss of revenue.
Remember, there are people who would rather you and your loved ones die of an opioid overdose than grow your own. And they are hateful monsters and should be held accountable by our culture.
27
Gateway? Yep...to the fridge.
31
This article is all over the place and very misleading. The photograph attached is also misleading. Is this the result of poor editing or editorial bias? The comments seem more informed than the article itself. There are, in fact, numerous cannabis users who have not lost their critical faculties. I’d like to think I’m one of them.
As a lifelong sufferer of chronic pain and depression, I discovered cannabis in my 60s when I found myself living in a state where it is legal. I’ve never really liked living in Seattle, but the availability of cannabis has literally saved my life, so I’m staying. Alcohol almost ruined me. Chronic pain drove me to two suicide attempts, one using opioids a doctor prescribed me. I didn’t ask for these drugs, btw. After I recovered from this total breakdown, a friend offered marijuana. I slept well for the first time in years and awoke with my pain profoundly reduced.MJ’s psychoactive effects shut down my suicidal ideation when I’m in a lot of pain. I’ve never longed for any other substance and I quit drinking 2years ago. When my dentist recently prescribed Vicodin after a procedure, I threw the script away.
If anybody asks me why I smoke every night, I answer that it keeps me from killing myself. Enough said?
The fact of the matter is that Big Pharma and our big Puritanical streak are preventing sound research from being conducted by reputable scientists. Big revenue streams are at stake. Money is the gateway drug to our current political mess.
44
The "gateway drug" theory is correct: go to sleep with opioid-friendly insurers and politicians like Tom Marino, and wake up with an addicted country.
22
The true "gateway" drug for many marijuana users is smoking nicotine cigarettes (joints), cigars (blunts), and pipes (bowls, bongs, hookahs). Outlaw them!
Anti-drug warriors and therapists have ignored a basic fact: the human brain is hard-wired to want to feel good, as postulated by Dr. Andrew Weill in "The Natural Mind" in the early Seventies. He pointed to childhood thrills and exhilaration of the playground where we get "high" going up as far as we can on the swing, as fast as we can on the merry-go-round, or merely turn in circles to collapse in laughter.
With the flawed thinking of prohibitionists disproved by the research noted in this column, why do social engineers such as Jeff Sessions have any credibility. The contrast between the situation in opioid crisis states and those where medical and recreational cannabis is legal is striking.
Causality has never been convincingly proven despite 80 years of efforts to convince people that marijuana is a "stepping stone" or "gateway" to the use of needles, injecting what the user hopes is "clean" heroin, but is usually cut (mixed) with who knows what.
The best remedies for our drug abuse problem are facts (instead of anti-drug propaganda) and information of the consequences of the poor choices, including death. If people still wish to use needles, that is their choice unfortunately. Perhaps the State can subsidize their burial or cremation, as nature cleans up our gene pool of people who flunk life's most basic IQ test.
4
It's a pity that this article omitted the Kaiser Permanente study on Adverse Child Experiences, known in the field a ACES. Very strong correlative effects have been found between adverse or traumatic childhood experiences (witnessing domestic violence, child abuse or neglect) and substance use. Reporter and editor, for this egregious omission of the most significant research in this area, please do a follow up article on ACES research.
9
What? Poverty is actually a factor in drug use? Booze causes more damage than weed? Cocaine's worst effect is economic? Monkeys like getting high? Somebody is spending money to find this out?
9
Disgustingly slanderous title and lead picture. I thought the NY Times was more enlightened. Wrong.
Alcohol is a hard drug which is potentially deadly and addictive, unlike pot. And unlike pot, alcohol has cleverly avoided the drug label, yet it is one of the most advertised products in America - we encourage hard drug alcohol use to the tune of billions of dollars a year in ads. Only one company can afford 4 or more ads in the Superbowl every year, the most watched, most expensive ads of the year. That company is Anheuser-Busch, the beer drug conglomerate.
In other words, Americans LOVE drugs, and BILLIONs of dollars are spent to get them to consume them. We need to wake up to this fact.
The answer is better education regarding the real dangers of all drugs and decriminalization, as countries like Portugal have done with huge success and dramatic reductions in loss of lives.
Urban legend from the civil war has it that some old women went to see President Lincoln in the White House. They complained that they had proof General Grant was drinking on the job.
"General Grant, drinking on the job?", Lincoln asked.
"Yes, Mr. President - we are positive", they replied.
Lincoln turned to his secretary - "Mr. Hay, I want you to find out immediately exactly what it is that General Grant is drinking - then send a barrel of it to every general in the Union Army!".
13
I think its time to classify bacon as a gateway drug (to global warming).
13
Probably the most potent gateway drug is milk. Almost 100% of users of cocaine and opioids began their drug careers with that suspiciously innocent white fluid.
13
Actually you are incorrect about the statistics on milk in humans. Some babies are raised on formula others are raised on breast milk.
A better study might start with cats. Cat owners know that some felines respond to cat nip while others do not. Fluffy will eat the nip and gallop around the house Gilbert will give the pile of vegetation a disdainful look and walk off.
1
Oh Please. I guess Mr. Sessions has friends in the prison business and he simply must show his loyalty by filling them up with people who smoked the wrong kind of cigarette. High pay for low risk.
I believe the opiate epidemic is due to over-selling by the makers of Oxycontin who swore it wasn't addictive but of course it was, horribly addictive. Now the folks Drs hooked at the advice of their pharma salesmen are getting bootleg heroin and fentanyl and dying in droves. What about doing something about that problem? The Oxycontin company is going after countries in Asia to drum up business there since it's drying up here. Now there is a crime for you.
Backwards, idiotic, corrupt... there are other terms for this administration but those are the nicest I can come up with.
10
Can we focus on alcohol and cigarettes first please?
Oh what's that? You say they've poured millions into campaigns and lobbying?....well nevermind then....let's absolutely go back to 1980's scare tactics and ignorance.
In fact, let's light up a cigar, pour a glass of brandy, and watch the totally factual Reefer Madness
10
Addiction is a good thing. Many people are addicted to reading books, to playing or listening to music, to walk and to go fishing and to a good conversation. But when the one's education is poor these wonderful addictions are not available.
8
I've lived in places where marijuana was legal, or essentially legal, and although I do not believe it is harmless there is no coherent argument against decriminalization. It's no more of a gateway to harder drugs than going to a bar is a gateway to alcoholism.
12
I went to high school in 1969 thru 1973, then went to college and loved to smoke pot. I smoked pot pretty regularly for about 10 years, as did most of my friends and in college it was everywhere, none of my friends or the people I knew went on to or had any desire to graduate to heroin or shoot up.
I knew some people that became junkies in my neighborhood and who did use and get addicted to heroin, but they were not the norm, and from what I knew had larger issues having nothing to do with smoking pot.
I always found drinking booze to more detrimental to my health and more of a societal issue with violence and out of control behavior.
15
Not the gateway drug theory again. The only gateway after marijuana is the refrigerator door, and how often it is opened. If the DARE crowd cares about drugs, they should look at heroin, whose gateway is the incessant pharma ads which have been bombarding Americans, with increasing frequency, going on a generation.
12
There is a very simple fact that is rarely brought up in these discussions: marijuana is a gateway drug via the legal system. If a person has been using pot for a few years, esp. a few decades ago when penalties were astonishingly harsh, then that person is already habituated, not to drugs, but to breaking the law. If said person is at a party where other, more medically risky drugs are available, legality is not even a factor. So yes, pot might indeed be a gateway drug, but not for the reasons spoon-fed to a gullible public, i.e. that it creates a craving for a higher high. It's a self-actuating myth brought about by the law itself. Smart country!
8
These studies simply show that some people will use drugs, whatever is available. The more important question is whether quality marijuana will be an option, or whether they will need to seek harder drugs instead. Marijuana was the easiest target for law enforcement efforts in the 1980s and early 1990s, since its cultivation is difficult to hide. Feds went after the low-hanging fruit, and this caused people to turn to harder drugs like meth, whose indoor production could easily be concealed. This pushed many people onto hard drugs, and a downward spiral ensued. Today people using heroin, cocaine, and/or meth often started with pills made by pharmaceutical companies, after they get hooked and can't continue the prescription they either buy the pills illegally or switch to opioids when the dealer runs out of pills (heroine supply is very steady compared to pills).
3
It's not a "theory"--never was. It has always been an hypothesis. But professional, scientifically and clinically trained and skiiled researchers and physicians have all along believed it to be true. And the factors that go into it have long included genetic, social, early childhood influences, comorbid disorder etc have long been known.AA and NA have long used the term "cross-addiction" to signify that use of one addictive drug predisposed to use of others. This recent published study is not a rediscovery; rather it's further evidence for it.
1
Sounds like alcohol and nicotine are associated with an increase in opiod abuse. This should merit further investigation and controls. For those of us who work in Emergency Medicine this is no surprise. As a first person witness to the effects of these three, the amount of interpersonal violence, motor vehicular trauma and medical problems has cost our society an untold amount of billions. The amount of problems related to marijuana are infrequent and minor when compared to cigarettes, marijuana and opioids.
However, I do not believe that the use of alcohol or cigarettes is the primary culprit - only substances that enable the users to move on to even worse habits. The root causes are deeply seated behavioral issues most likely related to family, school, violence, perhaps chronic recurrent sports related head trauma and economic issues. Issues that need to be evaluated but are largely ignored. Issues that if understood and addressed would be able to really make a difference as opposed to the 46 year war on drugs and massive expansion of the American prison system which has not done anything to help and has probably vastly expanded the problem.
5
Ambivalent/anxious attachment is a predictor of addictions. We should be very concerned about this because our addiction to technology (the constant distractions and resulting decrease in attention span) is bound to create more ambivalent/anxious attachment in our children.
4
You know what leads to a lot of ambivalent/anxious attachment?
Parents exhausted working multiple jobs, unreliable schedules, inadequate health care, non existent public education and transportation, and a culture that repeats hundreds of times every day that if you're not rich, really, really rich, you're not worth anything, and you don't deserve to harbor even the delusion that things might get better for you one day or better for your kids ever.
Maybe we could do an experiment, fix that stuff and then remeasure drug-taking behavior.
It could be good.
1
"Today, health advocates tend to rally around a concept known as common liability theory, which states that certain people, by virtue of biology, environment or both, are simply more likely than others to become addicted to drugs. Part of the appeal of the theory is it explains why so many people can use so-called gateway drugs and never become addicted."
Until we understand how these factors operate biochemically and genetically, we're just spinning our wheels, throwing up a muddy, icy mixture of morality, pseudoscience and desperation.
5
I once studied this question from an economic perspective. Allow me to propose a different hypothesis. Once you account for socio-economic factors and basic genetic inclination, addiction mostly comes down to access. There are more alcoholics than heroine addicts because, until prescription opioids anyway, heroine was relatively hard to obtain. The same is more or less true for any drug. If you can't get the drug, you'll find it difficult to become addicted.
One might immediately conclude we should just get rid of addictive substances. However, there is a strange backlash to this line of thinking. By illegalizing relatively harmless and commonly used drugs, you're effectively training users on how to access harder drugs. If you can find a marijuana dealer in a state where marijuana is illegal, chances are you can find a supplier for other substances as well.
The very act of making marijuana illegal exposes users to a higher risk of encountering harder drugs and drug users of higher types of drugs. If you could just walk into a 7-11 and buy your weed snacks, you might become a chronic weed consumer. However, you're less likely to ever try another substance because most people won't ever encounter one.
Food for thought.
5
Alcohol is by far the greatest gateway drug we have. I worked as a substance abuse counselor in the mid-to-late 2000's and pretty much all of the clients/residents/patients I saw (depending on the setting I worked in) had their first sip of alcohol way before they tried anything else. Maybe the younger generations are now "primed' through ADHD meds and opiates, I don't know, but most people don't smoke pot because they are pressured to, they do it because they are curious, and most likely already smoking cigarettes.
1
Well those who remember what pot actually was back in the '80's remember a relatively mild, moldy-smelling clump of brown, seedy vegetable-matter you needed a vintage copy of Close to the Edge to separate the many seeds out of, most of the rest being twigs.
Nowadays, the photos you see of these mutant, crystalline-covered hairy, glowing green super-buds look like a harder drug than any beer or even bag of that 80%-cut mystery-powder that supposedly passes for cocaine.
But I can safely say that none of the cough-inducing inhalations of incinerated ez-widers & hemp-seed ever caused a craving for anything more than stacks of oreos (which these days we're told are more addictive & deadly than meth).
2
As a young adult, I went from pot to other recreational drugs. The reason: the people who sold pot also sold those other drugs. If marijuana were legalized, that easy access would be eliminated. Creating a safe and regulated market will stop the progression.
5
Marijuana came into my suburban San Francisco neighborhood in '66, followed quickly by LSD (still legal at that time). I was 15. We all smoked daily for a year or two and dropped acid a handful of times.
My immediate friends and I were into psychedelics; we considered using speed, downers and heroin an unnatural anathema. Didn't fit with a back to the land, natural lifestyle.
I can't say that all this was a positive experience. Six guys from my high school ended up dying young from drug related causes; two murdered, four OD'd.
As far as I know only one guy from my neighborhood continues to smoke regularly. After 20 years of sporadic use, I quite completely in the 80's. Don't miss it a bit.
3
Ask the addicts--listen to what they say.
I've heard teens say that they began to misuse ADHD drugs, which led to heroin addiction, because they wanted to do well in school as well as to numb their emotions. If we had the courage to change our manic, dehumanizing "Race to Nowhere" way of doing K-12 education, we might see less drug use among teens.
As for the kids who actually have ADHD, listen to them. They get a clear message that they are "less than" and "need to keep up with your peers"--meaning, if you have to take drugs to test well and keep the adults happy, whatever. We won't ask too many questions about how you're doing and why you suddenly are having sleep issues and taking your backpack everywhere you go. We want those As and ever-increasing test scores.
Parents need to fight the system. They have more power than the administrators and teachers who are within it.
1
Roughly 10% of the population shouldn't drink. That leaves 90% who can handle alcohol responsibly. I imagine those 10% are also the ones who shouldn't smoke weed or use any other recreational drugs. That still leaves the same 90% who would have no problem controlling their use of those drugs. That whole 'gateway' argument is bogus. People need to know who they are and what they can manage. And it should be left up to them to manage their lives as they see fit. And if you drive under the influence your license should be taken away for good - regardless of the type of 'influence'.
4
We don't need to rely on rat studies. Marijuana is fully legal in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon. Is the opioid epidemic worse in those states than in the states where it's still illegal, or not? Do opioid addicts in treatment programs report using marijuana prior to beginning opioids, or not? Study humans. The data is right in front of you.
5
“There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.” - National Academy of Sciences (from the article)
The photo of cannabis under the headline of this article gives the opposite impression.
3
Columbia University discovers what human society has known for 3,000 years: Alcohol use impairs judgment.
58
But it's legal, so it can't be wrong.
1
Smoking medical marijuana daily could very well help Alzheimer's patients deal with their illness by slowing down the process of their brains going haywire in different directions. The loved ones of former president George H. W. Bush might be able to get him to stop slapping women on the behind if they could get him to smoke a joint or two every day.
11
Unhappiness is the gateway drug. Obviously people in emotional pain will seek out the substance that provides, if not euphoria at least makes them feel normal. For some this is alcohol; for others, weed. Some people crave opioids and others speed. So far the medical community has not even discovered all the neurotransmittors and have only recently admitted that the GI tract's neurotransmittors communicate with the brain. The current drug laws have created a permanent criminal class and furthermore makes criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.
84
Many people use alcohol or marijuana to help them cope with emotional difficulties caused by things over which they feel they have no control. It makes sense that unless these issues are dealt with there will be an incentive to continue to find more and more effective ways to disconnect from reality. The drugs themselves are usually not the root of the problem but in the absence of opportunities to learn different life management skills they will be the coping method of choice.
14
The bias inherent in every drug discussion I have ever read suggests that no matter how deluded, unaware, morally corrupt, willfully ignorant or just plain stupid the user is, drugs make that person worse. That might be true in some and maybe most cases but some folks benefit from their chemicals. And it seems pretty clear that some people, who have never been “high” could use something to enhance their humanity. Marx was certainly on target about religion being the opiate of the people. Just interview a slice of Roy Moore supporters.
Gateways to new consciousness sounds like something a lot of folks wearing yoga pants spend considerable time chasing. Legal marijuana is a step in the right direction. The question that should be asked “does using drugs make me buy more stuff” never gets asked. Television is the gateway drug to over consumption. Try turning yourself on instead of your flatscreeen, America.
20
Yes, no doubt the 52 year old cancer patient reeling from post-chemotherapy nausea and that 83 year old woman suffering from glaucoma, both of whom find more relief from cannabis than they do from anything the drug companies put out, will no doubt be slamming heroin after their next puff-puff-pass.
76
You know what else is a gateway drug to heroin? Prescription painkillers.
82
Isn't that the conventional wisdom about the current opioid crisis? Very strange not to see it mentioned here. The crisis isn't fueled by people who started out as recreational users of street drugs.
1
AG Sessions is riding the "tough on crime" horse and wants to jail everyone involved with Marijuana. The process is starting slowly, and if he survives the Russia issues watch out
9
Turnabout is fair play. A lot of us want to jail everyone involved with Trump.
3
Jeffery Beauregard Sessions and his compatriots have been mainlining Russian influence long enough now that they’ve ruined their own lives and ours too.
If there is any cosmic justice, they’ll end up in the cells Sessions would have reserved for the kid smoking a dube behind the school gym.
1
To argue that Marijuana isn't addictive in some people is absurd. PHYSICALLY addictive? Probably not.
PSYCHOLOGICALLY addictive to some. Absolutely. A gateway for some? Absolutely.
I believe it should be decriminalized and anyone who wishes to, should be able to smoke it.
I've also seen the psychological and gateway aspects up close and personal.
7
I know you struggle to resist going full conservative (congratulations, it seems you're mostly winning...) but before you relaunch this questionable-at-best theory and the accompanying condemnation of users and cuts to funding for services and care that will accompany that, lets get a couple of things straight.
The 'opioid crisis sweeping the country' is an American creation, built by corporations and marketing behemoths fully aware of what they were doing, for the sake of profit.
If America had any other religion than money, these people would have already been held to account and millions of victims awarded the spoils of their forced disintegration.
Much the same for cocaine, push-marketed by Reagan.
The theory itself is more an account of coincidence and the temporal ordering of history. As researchers are forced to admit the majority of marijuana and alcohol users never move to the heavy stuff, they must also admit that many who do would have gone there with or without marijuana. That is, the drive to self-medicate in this way is the prime mover for them
They would have begun with whatever was available and, whatever that was, would likely have graduated to more problematic substances.
It's not a gateway, its a coincidence.
I'd like to suggest that before we launch the Republican campaign of blame, shame, shunning and inappropriately militaristic law enforcement, maybe we could have in place a plan to offer treatment and a commitment to fund it. Let's try that.
20
It seems apparent that there is no one single explanation for why some people get addicted. Some people have an 'addictive personality', although their choice of drug may vary due to a variety of reasons. Other people become addicted when they start using addictive drugs, including opiates, and they may be trying different dugs for a variety of reasons.
I was a runaway at 15, lived in the ghetto with other runaways, and experimented with some drugs in the late 60s / early 70s. One thing we never did was to try opiates as everyone knew that they were potentially vey addicting. One drug that hit the streets that also turned out to be very addicting for some was methamphetamine. Initially word on the street was that it was being distributed by the syndicate, which may have been true as the first batches were boxes with ampules of USP meth. The effect for many sustained users was a dramatic decline in physical and mental health, and the effect on the street scene was devastating. After WWII evidently Japanese military stockpiles of amphetamine found their way on to the civilian market, but they banned it after seeing the effects. Smoking weed appeared to be benign for most, but again some smaller percentage of people went on to try other things.
The US opiate epidemic is self-inflicted, and represents a profound failure of regulating agencies, medicine and science which appeared to believe that some types were not addicting.
10
I am not sure how to interpret this article, or why it was written at all. By the title, one is led to believe that there is actually new scientific information regarding “gateway” drugs. But after reading, the only new “evidence” are rat studies using alcohol and cocaine—not even marijuana (which was always touted by authorities as leading to heroin abuse). The remainder of the article focuses on the vast amount of scientific information that continues to debunk gateway drug theory.
At best, this commentary is misleading and borders on being propaganda.
27
Seems to me like this is mostly about the NYT pandering to the extremist right in a totally-lacking-in-self-awareness exercise in their willingness to commit false equivalency (my people call them 'lies') to prove their 'objectivity/lack of bias', or as some might interpret, willingness to lie about the things the extremist right likes to curry favor regardless of the impact on the right's scapegoats.
Gross.
Exactly so.
Back in the 1980s when snorting cocaine was popular among the well off, I observed who was into it. All of them were people that liked their alcohol. None of them were marijuana users.
24
That may have been more because of class issues then drug of choice.
This comment could stand as the apotheosis of anecdotal evidence.
For me, a recovering addict, marijuana was not a gateway, but merely the first step on my quest for relief from inner pain. Marijuana did not provide the relief I sought, so I moved on to alcohol and cocaine. My first relief substance, and the most difficult to quit, was sugar.
10
The opioid problem was caused by insurance companies pushing doctors to use the cheapest form of pain releif or the one the drug companies gave the biggest "rebates" on. Here in the NW marijuana is actually helping people get off opiods for pain and is preventing people from becoming addicts in the first place.
15
For several years I worked in a hospital in a major metropolitan city. Part of the work included starting IV lines on patients and sometimes I gave the needle to the patient if they were an addict since they knew where their veins were and were skilled at reaching them AND I did not want to keep sticking them and causing pain. Now I doubt that would be permitted but it worked. More importantly I never met an addict that enjoyed being an addict. People simply want to feel ok and they start using because they are in pain, somehow, someway. The younger they start the more the brain and body change with the introduction of drugs. We are slowly finding new ways to address chemical dependencies, both physical and psychological. My thought is to make all drugs legal and regulated/standardized AND have treatment, not jail, the legal solution when only and illegal purchase is involved. There will still be illegal markets, just as there are for liquor. We would be a better country for this, better people and certainly more informed. Yes I know, it would take a major shift in understanding and attitudes, less judgment, more compassion. That would be a good outcome in my opinion. For all of us, in very many ways.
6
Should we put the physiology aspect of this claim aside for once and for all? What about the social aspects of falling in with the folks who distribute drugs, possibly of a wide range. Has there been any research there?
3
My spouse received her medical weed card this summer for chronic pain. When I leave my home I no longer worry about coming back to a pain pill stupor or overdose. The "indica" provides pain relief and keeps her "onda" sofa, and the sativa provides her with energy and movement. I had doubts whether it would be useful for more than nausea, but our experience has been a blessing. The stress level at home has calmed and the worst side effect has been the gateway to the food pantry.
65
The gateway effect is a byproduct of two dynamics. The primary one is lumping all drugs together as equally dangerous and simultaneously refusing to acknowledge alcohol and nicotine as drugs. Marijuana is significantly less dangerous than any other drug and when new users discover that not only do they not go insane or even get an alcohol-style hangover, they then discount the actual risks of opioids, cocaine and amphetamines. Even these drugs don't result in immediate addiction and after a positive experience with them, they are even more likely to discount their risks.
The second dynamic is the Calvinistic obsession with no substance use at all as the only moral choice. Even legal drugs like alcohol retain an air of naughtyness and guilt. This causes our education system to only pursue a "don't use drugs" message when in fact, a harm-reduction strategy of "how to use safe drugs with less risk" strategy would actually teach real facts about drug and alcohol use and how to minimize harm from their consumption. Education winds up consisting of rumors, urban fiction and misguided personal experience.
We further confuse the issues with drug consumption with mass prescribing stimulants and anti-depressants to young people. What message are they supposed to get other than drugs are a useful tool for managing their emotions and performance?
8
In my person anecdotal experience, education should be the answer. HONEST education, not "just say no." Telling your kids that trying cocaine is the same as putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger is scary, but what happens when someone then tries a line and their head doesn't explode?? Better to teach the biological ramifications of drugs: You do the drugs, these changes occur to your brain chemistry and many of the chances can be permanent especially with repeated used of drugs.
8
Another example of smart people coming up with dumb rationalizations to prop up failed policy.
First, it's notable that the observed gateway effects involve LEGAL drugs. There may be a pharmacological link, assuming rats react the same as humans, but it's hardly the conclusive case that is made by the studies' authors. Since it's clear we're not going to institute prohibition for either drug, even if the observed results have significance, they are clearly not a basis of science in support of existing policy versus illegal drugs. In fact they suggest that prohibition is bound to fail, which it clearly has.
The problem of prohibition is that it inherently and inescapably incentivizes the very economic forces it was supposedly designed to defeat; make drugs more valuable by making them illegal and you increase their attractiveness to criminal production and distribution, compounding and actually growing existing drug problems. This is a good thing for anti-drug police units and the "recovery" industry, but it's very bad public policy.
Want to limit the harms of drug use? Then don't approach this as a pharmacological or legal issue, but an economic one. Avoid creating black-markets, encourage legal regulated production and distribution. The statistics on crime and health in states that legalize cannabis point in directions that suggest positive improvements, a stark contrast to the decades of failure that public policy in support of prohibition clearly has demonstrated.
10
You are right - its the financial bottom line which promotes the black market, and it isn't a secret.
Destroying poppy fields in Afghanistan means that, in addition to destroying those farmer's income, the War on Drugs has increased the price that can be gotten somewhere else. which makes opium an even more tantalizing business to make a killing in.
With marijuana, there isn't even the prospect of major damage that comes with heroin; in fact, there is some good. There is no rational reason at all for keeping it illegal.
Unless you make your living as some cog in the War on Drugs machinery, - in which case you might need a new job.
4
The gateway drugs in our society are alcohol and tobacco. In my opinion that is how we learn addiction.
6
There is no question that marijuana is a gateway drug - it has led me to an unquenchable desire for fine chocolate.
18
As long a marijuana is listed with other drugs as dangerous and illegal, it will be a gateway drug. The same class of criminal that deals pot also sells other, more dangerous, more addicting drugs. In this way, and this way only, is marijuana a "gateway".
If we take the money out of its sales, and make it legal, criminals will no longer be willing to push it on teens and other vulnerable populations. Legalizing marijuana makes the best sense.
5
It’s not a gateway drug here in MA. It’s delightfully legal and there is nothing quite as nice as dropping by your supplier who can sell you legally a nice fat bag of pot, then getting in your car with that stinky bag of weed and driving home knowing that if you get pulled over for a broken taillight, you don’t have to worry about a couple of years in jail.
3
The gateway theory should have died with Nancy Reagan and the just say NO campaign.
The best protection from pills and powders is love and connection, and more of it.
It about just saying YES, to all the things that resonate with our unique physiology.
For me, life long weed use has kept the pilled, powdered or spirits filled demons at bay, its been a gateway to calm, in the stormy seas of modern life.
Marijuana is not the enemy here. Shortsighted, politicized,simplified, federal policy is the culprit in this fight.
9
So true!
What would we do without the revenue from being arrested for having just a few grams of marijuana? It's not about "Gateway Drugs" It's about Big Pharmacy and that includes our" government" with no doubt! It isn't about Marijuana as much now that the cities state and government can receive revenue from arrests made for illegal PHARMACEUTICALS.
The “Gateway” theory is as anachronistic and as thoroughly discredited as “Trickle-down” economic theories.
However in these mean-spirited “alt-right” times, both have been resurrected to serve the repressive agendas of social conservatives and selfish kleptocrats.
This is what happens when the likes of Sessions, Pence, Moore, and Trump Inc. are elevated to positions of political power.
5
Some people are more prone to addiction and/or thrill-seeking behavior than are others. Why is marijuana the "gateway" for these people? Cheaper and easier to get. Especially now, with edibles. Take away the accessibility to marijuana and they'll start with something else. Pills from the parents' medicine chests, probably. Huffing from spray cans. Whatever they can get their hands on.
So when do the millions and millions of people who have smoked weed for decades and never went on to harder drugs make the leap to opiates? In their 50s? 60s? Maybe in their 70s?
4
I'm 67. Of the several dozen people I knew in college that I am still in touch with only two ever went on to harder drugs - their cases crystal meth. Both of them only used for a few years. All of these people, including those two have led successful lives, had solid careers and raised well adjusted children. I stopped smoking pot around the age of 30, when our first child was born and when my career had me working long hours. About 12 years ago, I was offered some pot and began smoking it several times a week, when my work load allowed for it. Now that I am retired, after dinner I smoke a bowl or two, listen to some good music, watch a movie, have a snack (of course!), go to bed and sleep soundly. One other thing, my arthritis bothers me less in the evening.
So, where is the evil - the danger to society - in all this???? LEGALIZE!!!!!!
5
Alcohol and nicotine (the two substances in the most recent studies) are physically addictive. Marijuana is not. That would seem to be an important thing to note.
70
Actually, there is evidence that for about 9% of those who try MJ it becomes fully addictive - demonstrating a physical dependence and loss of control. It’s similar to alcohol and other addictive drugs - only a certain percentage of users develop addiction. The risk for addiction seems to lie in the personal (largely genetic) vulnerability of the individual. Social factors such as poverty are significant in the initiation of drug use but less so in the transition to full addiction.
2
Mark, assuming you are citing the common study on this, also cited by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, you have your facts wrong. What they say is that 9% of mj users become abusers; not that they become physically addicted. That's nowhere near the same thing. One can abuse marijuana -- smoke it all day, every day -- and still not be physically addicted (stop cold turkey and you won't have any physical withdrawal symptoms).
3
We now know that environment is the major factor that leads to addiction. Rats alone in cramped cages, folks in poverty with no way out, victims of abuse, etc. are all more likely to get addicted. Meanwhile our drug laws are more like price supports for illegal drugs, undermining law and order worldwide by making illegal drug sales lucrative and dog eat dog violence a survival strategy.
56
Gary,
I knew plenty of trust fund kids who developed addictions. I don't buy the poverty theory. Certainly poverty can't help, but I've also seen videos of poor Russian kids devoting hours to working out in broken down public playgrounds. They don't seem to spend their time doing drugs, unless working out all day is an addiction. Poor kids can buy a skateboard and spend their days skating instead of doing drugs.
I think environment matters less than parenting.
1
Yes, if we legalized all illegal drugs they would be as cheap as cancer medications...oh wait
I know many Jewish professors who grew up poor, but whose parents made sure their children were intellectually stimulated, supported, and engaged in school. The best ways to prevent your kids from becoming drug users is to
a) go running with your kids
b) read books with your kids
1
I don't doubt there is a natural progression, but you can still set appropriate lines in the sand. I don't think a good way to combat teen pregnancy would be to say "no holding hands"
9
Holding hands does not alter your brain function, drugs do, especially in young people, even Marijuana.
Facts can be unpleasant, but they are still facts.
How about if we stop legislating morality, drug use and let people get through their lives however they can. We would be better off providing mental health care and support people through life's troubles instead of creating them. I am sure if there is less worry about paying medical bills, college loans and the other stressors of life, there would be less drug use.
43
With all the frivolous investigation of marijuana as a “gateway drug,” has there ever been a study of tobacco in the same light? How many drug users used tobacco first? I’d wager the number is higher. And still the issue of causation remains unaddressed.
21
My sense is that the gateway drug theory is bunk. I went to college with a lot of people who smoked pot every day, still managed to get good grades, and went on to become productive members of society. I don't know a single heroin addict. I know that this is merely anecdotal evidence, but it seems fairly representative of most people's experience.
I have a friend who once argued that, if a 'gateway drug' exists, it's cough syrup. For most people, cough syrup is their first experience with feeling a little funny and getting used to that feeling. And I am not talking about chugging a bottle of cough syrup, I am talking about a normal dose.
55
Suger is the gateway drug. Give a group of kids suger and watch what happens. Oh, by the way, they want more. Sound familiar?
5
Loneliness, boredom and poverty are gateway drugs. Bars, not alcohol, are the gateway drugs, as they provide the sense of community that fills the void. Give people a sense of purpose and community, meet their basic human needs, alleviate the anxiety of want and drugs will fade away.
134
Feasible : The creation of marijuana prohibition deprived our bodies important endocannabinoid systems of necessary cannabinoids. Which threw our bodies homeostasis out of whack & created many illnesses. Now after many generations of cannabinoid deficient parents later. Children are being born with & early developing horrible illnesses, mental health conditions & cancers. It would not be a stretch to say that most illnesses of today relieved by marijuana are caused by cannabinoid deficiencies. Marijuana needs to be legalized nationwide. To save lives, relieve the suffering, free innocent non-violent prisoners, reduce billions from americas budget & take a massive burden off of healthcare costs. But congress/senate have long chosen to sweep this issue under the rug or promote medical marijuana. Medical marijuana requires we develop illnesses (like cancerous tumor cells) Risking Death. Before going to a doctor to try to get a marijuana prescription instead of chemo poison. Marijuana needs to be legal like recreational marijuana access. Which fights illnesses, prevents illnesses & protects future generations from birth defects & early life illnesses. The Nixon marijuana study proved marijuana kills cancerous tumor cells. Recreational marijuana access used properly kills cancerous tumor cells that we don't know we have yet. Marijuana was illegally made illegal by lies for profits of products that would otherwise be made from marijuana/hemp. The same holds true today.
2
Um.....Why are our ENDOcannabinoid systems--which by the word means self-produced--reliant on external cannabinoids? That makes no sense. What about countries where there was no native THC-producing plant?
As for medical marijuana fixing illnesses because it corrects a deficiency in cannabinoids......preventing birth defects and childhood cancers....I don't buy it. Show some data.
This is pseduoscience with a clear agenda: marijuana purely benign, natural, good.
The economic arguments are separate.
1
I mean, no. Your first sentence shoots the entire thing down - marijuana prohibition couldn't have "deprived" us as most of us weren't using it before the laws.
Missing data alert: If one looks at the research over a much longer period of time (decades), the percentage of marijuana smokers who are considered regular users compared to those who ever tried marijuana at least once is fairly constant at around 20%. One would think if it was a gateway drug or addictive, why did the other 80% try it a few times and then not continue? I suspect the common liability theory is much more likely.
22
Not everyone has the same reaction to drugs. Some people like the feeling it gives them , some people do it to fit in. I know someone who smokes Marijuana regularly to cope with her problems. It may make her feel better for a while but it has done nothing to alleviate those problems.
From the article:
>>>"Critics note that marijuana has, in some cases, been shown to actually prevent people from abusing other substances. And even D.A.R.E. now acknowledges that the overwhelming majority of people who smoke pot or drink never graduate to pills and powders."
Nothing in the article refutes this. - The Drug Czar's own 1999 Institute of Medicine study of marijuana concluded the "gateway" theory is just a myth that does not operate in reality. This has been confirmed by every legitimate study since then.
In fact, SAMHSA research shows that for every 100 people who try marijuana, only ONE later becomes a regular consumer of illegal addictive, hard drugs.
Clearly, instead of being a gateway, near harmless marijuana is actually a TERMINUS drug - being the LAST one most people ever consume.
So this article is misleading, talking about a "comeback" for the "gateway theory." - The mythological theory has ONLY been advanced about marijuana, and here we see it absolutely doesn't apply to marijuana.
Shame on all this misdirection! -- Let the insidious piece of propaganda known as the (marijuana) gateway theory STAY DEAD where it belongs!
120
I think Chris Christie is a living example of how our best technology can't cure
his addiction (food), even surgically, as he remains morbidly obese. It would
do wonders for someone of his notoriety to publicly admit to his addiction,
and add the credibility that only addicts have when they push for reforms in govt. drug policies.
In addition, I would be surprised if Christy, the manipulative control freak that he is, doesn't join the list of sex addicted celebs and politicians in the near future - if we follow his theory that there is a gateway drug (his being food) to worse addiction (sex, booze or some other "legal" substance like Rx drugs).
5
Tobacco is without any doubt the very first gateway to smoking anything else.
27
"What the medical community knows about addiction has evolved significantly since the 1930s,..."
many illegal drug laws, however, have yet to evolve or to objectively consider objective evidence. the good news is that laws concerning legal tobacco and alcohol have become much more restrictive since 1933, after scientific studies and observations have shown their dangers, especially to bystanders who do not use the drugs.
p.s. why is the photo showing what appears to be cannabis? it should show a packet of prescription pain killers, a beer can or a packet of tobacco cigarettes. opioids, alcohol and nicotine are all addictive.
as stimulants, cocaine and caffeine can also be addictive, although cocaine has stronger effects.
3
The gateway drug theory is one of the most specious pseudo science efforts that has ever been put forth. I started drinking at 18, when it was legal. In the decades since I have never tried, nor had the inclination to try cocaine, even though the opportunity presented itself on multiple occasions.
This is all a delay tactic from the groups and industries which will be hurt by legalization. Big pharma, the alcohol industry, the for profit prison industry, the fabric industry, and finally the DEA will all have negative revenue consequences if marijuana is legalized. Compared to alcohol and opioids cannabis has never had an overdose. It has real benefits, unfortunately not for corporations.
We need to stop this charade and legalize it in all 50 states.
91
Applies also to food industry as we see many young sickly obese people among us. This country is run by faceless big corporations of which the main purpose is to make money. Our naive and ill-educated people is an easy prey for these monsters selling alcohol, tobacco and snacks of every kind.
1
I have a medical marijuana card and I know that one can get too high on marijuana, especially edibles. I would call that an overdose, though perhaps feeling too high and wanting/waiting to come down, does not fall within that definition. I am grateful to have the card, but as a consumer I feel we deserve more research on safety, efficacy and dosage. Ideally, robust research precedes legalization for recreational use, but it won't happen that way. Perhaps one day these conversations will be grounded in scientific data instead of the current shouting match between competing interests. I am concerned especially about dosage being calibrated and reasonably represented in edibles. For example, a marijuana cookie could contain the equivalent of 4 doses. Anybody could easily see one cookie as a single dose and eat the whole thing.
1
Many years ago down in Texas the PTA at our kids' elementary school invited some high school students who had chosen not to use drugs to talk with us parents about risk factors. Our affluent town had experienced a terrible rash of heroin overdoses in the high school. What these students told us was that cigarette smoking seemed the apparent precursor to the use of harder drugs. They were unequivocal about this. While it was hardly science, it seems that science is backing them up on this.
6
Seriously, you have to be joking. My parents, half of my grandparents, and over half of their friends smoked cigarettes. In the 40's and 50's over half the country smoked. How many of them did drugs? This is one of the most ridiculous statements I have heard in a long time.
6
I'd bet chocolate was a precursor, too.
2
"What these students told us"
Taking advice from the students? What a bright idea! What about taking advice from toddlers?
The article should have mentioned another gateway drug connection that The Times has often reported as being fact.
Despite its frequent contention that many patients taking opioids for pain end up using heroin when they can no longer afford the prescription medications, there is no evidence to support this. In fact, less than 5% of people who have used prescription opioids for non-medical reasons end up using heroin.
4
The real issue is that we have a generation of young adults guided by their emotions. Their feelings take precedence to everything in their lives, what makes the world overwhelming. Using any type of drugs to numb emotions is a path to stronger drugs.
Most of these kids have very short tolerance to discomfort, especially emotional. They also don't have the fortitude or tools needed to handle negative feelings. I believe marihuana is just a gateway to stronger drugs.
We treat opioid-dependent patients, and most of them started with pot and escalated to pills or heroin. These are kids from affluent families, with education and support. Regardless, when they open the door to getting "high", it becomes difficult to live life on life's terms.
3
Reading is hard. So by your logic, there should be virtually no drug abuse in Japan, since marijuana use is practically non-existent. And in your gateway theory, how do you account for tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, or sugar?
11
The Drug Czar's own 1999 Institute of Medicine study of marijuana concluded the "gateway" theory is just a myth that does not operate in reality. This has been confirmed by every legitimate study since then.
In fact, SAMHSA research shows that for every 100 people who try marijuana, only ONE later becomes a regular consumer of illegal addictive, hard drugs.
Clearly, instead of being a gateway, near harmless marijuana is actually a TERMINUS drug - being the LAST one most people ever consume.
6
I'm 60 years old, and I've heard that same argument proffered by every generation, starting with my grandparents. It's a tired argument that has been disproved time and again, yet it still keeps popping up, like mushrooms after rain.
Your assertion that, "These are kids from affluent families, with education and support" confuses me. Surely in the United States of America there are more than just educated, affluent kids? Are you saying that 'gateway' drugs only affect the affluent?
Alcohol is the major gateway drug, and that is for the gateway in to multiple drug use for some, and the final one out, as it contributes to deaths from multiple causes. The "gateway drug" term was one more attempt to oversimplify cautions about drug use, as if the audience out there would respond more to scare techniques than to information thoughtfully presented.
6
There is an obvious typo here from the study in Japan (2010). It states, "In Japan, where marijuana use is far lower than in most Western countries, only 83 percent of illicit drug users started out smoking pot." It should say that 83% did NOT start out using pot, as referenced in the study itself.
33
OK thank you. It did sound ridiculous in context, not unlike some drug warnings
2
"In Japan, where marijuana use is far lower than in most Western countries, only 83 percent of illicit drug users started out smoking pot"
In other words, theory somehow refuted because the habits of the overwhelming majority of users support the theory. Say wha?
I think there is little doubt that 'hard' users typically start out with the 'light' stuff. The question really is whether, in the absence of these lighter stepping stones, would pot users otherwise jump to heroin? A stronger case could be made for the gateway drug theory through illustrations of ease of access. The black market distribution chain for pot establishes a pervasive connectivity point for those who would, for one reason or another, take the leap to the hard stuff. Due to the high volume pot trade, with dealers aplenty never far from reach, potential users of heroin therefore have easier connectivity to drugs higher in the chain. And after experiencing what illicit drugs can do for those susceptible to those types of rewards, a greater inclination to reach a little further.
2
~100% of hard drug users first use tobacco or marijuana. This is why.
Prehistoric man lived in communal groups of ~100, group size being limited by the exhaustion of local food supplies and hours available to search for food. In large groups we are the dominant predator. Alone, we are prey. Best friends protect us from expulsion from the communal group so that we do not become prey. Expulsion is a danger because communal living exacerbates the complexity of interpersonal relationships that can lead to bullying, physical abuse, ostracism and expulsion from the larger group. Being a member of a group of best friends protects us from expulsion.
To strengthen the bonds between best friends, we have developed an ability to acquire our friend’s bad habits, as one of many ways we forge strong bonds of friendship. One bad habit in the group of best friends will eventually be spread to all in the group, the desire to abuse the substance always preceding addiction if that occurs.
So, in this limited sense, tobacco and marijuana are gateway substances leading to hard drug use for the following reason. We more easily, and for that reason, earlier in life, start using tobacco and usually then marijuana, because it is easier to rationalize becoming best friends with cigarette smokers than with a cocaine or methamphetamine addict.
The take home message is to be careful who you choose to become best friends with.
1
Suggesting a correction: "Only 83% of illicit drug users started out smoking pot..." The 83% should be 17%.
That "only [a large majority]" claim sounded bizarre to me so I clicked on the link to investigate. Poor wording in the original paper was carried over to this article. Turns out the 83% comes from a table whose caption says it represents the portion of the drug-using population "who had NOT already used cannabis before beginning other illicit drug" [emphasis from the paper]. Science reporting is hard enough as it is, I know...
7
This is a funny line:
"Another knock on the gateway theory: In Japan, where marijuana use is far lower than in most Western countries, only 83 percent of illicit drug users started out smoking pot, according to a 2010 study."
Only 83%? Um, that's more than a significant amount.
Did you not see or logically decipher that there was an error, that people in Japan continues marijuana
1
The gateway to drug addiction is very much within parental control. The 'gateway' is whether they impart emotional self-regulation skills to their children or not.
People who are empathically parented as small children (0-3) are given the skills they need to regulate intense emotions by internalizing the approach their parents use to calm them. Emotional self-regulation is learned by being externally co-regulated, aka soothed, many hundreds of times. Being attentive and responsive to babies lays the groundwork for future self regulation.
The people who develop addictions have not acquired emotional self-regulation skills.
11
Nice sounding theory, any proof? I have my doubts that you can teach a 0-3 year old how to deal with the turbulent emotions driven by hormones and social rejection encountered in high school, the age at which people are most susceptible to being lured into a drug culture. When kids are old enough to understand these complex topics (such as maybe 8-10 years old), I would tend to agree that you can prepare them in advance for what they are about to go through, but even then, there is no real way to predict how bad it will be because each person and each high school is different.
1
I personally attached myself to the hippies who were smoking pot because my Dad forbid me to play football. In the end though the weed did a lot less damage than the concussions would have, so I think Dad made the right decision. Only half joking.
5
I think this is definitely important. However it won't prevent all addiction. My sister is an alcoholic. I am married with kids, working full time, functioning in the world. We were raised by the same parents in the same environment. We had a great childhood. I think genes play a role. We do have other alcoholics in the extended family. Why she couldn't cope with life without drugs remains a mystery to me.
1
These psychologists are liars. Addiction is 100-percent genetic. 14-Percent of all humans are born with an addictive personality. There is no cure. Big money in the fancy hotel "Rehab" business for unemployed brain doctors.
2
How does that account for the explosion of opioid addiction in recent years? Changes at the genetic level don't occur that fast.
4
Abn Ranger,
Do want to cite the research to support your statement about addiction being 100% genetic.
If you can prove this, you'll get a Nobel Prize. If you can't, then you're just blowing smoke about something you really have no knowledge of.
2
It's actually a widely observed characteristic of long term addiction that the longer an addict survives the greater their chances of recovery. Of course that is somewhat obvious, but I think an important consideration. Keeping folks as healthy as we can regardless of what we think of their choices is the humane thing to do.
2
The gateway drug theory was never about the physical effects of the drug, that one drug would physically cause a person to be susceptible to trying another. This article is a straw-man fallacy. Gateway means entry into a social world where experimentation with all manner of drugs is common place. If you smoked cigarettes or drank alcohol or smoked pot as a 15 year old high school kid, you would be potentially granted access to that social club, if you did not use those drugs, you would definitely not be welcome. If the club was trying to recruit you, they would start out by introducing you to cigarettes, alcohol, and then marijuana, usually in that order, because these are low level, minor drugs that don't have the scary reputation of making you a crack addict.
Of course, people that are living a lifestyle whereby they use powerful drugs like alcohol and marijuana to alter their mood and state of mind in order to enhance a social experience such as a party are very much primed for considering using other drugs, but it is the people they are surrounded by, that will offer them reassurances about the new drug and offer samples to try, that are the real gateway.
30
Everything you here say is true, but to better understand the underlying basis for the truths in your statements, please read my longer comment. You should have written this news article.
1
Marijuana is not a "powerful" drug. It's mildness, low toxicity and manageability is why we use it.
1
I believe 100% that some people are genetically predisposed to addiction whether it’s drugs, alcohol or cigarettes.
5
Thank you. I’ve been saying for a long time that the simplistic explanations for substance abuse and addiction are wrong. The other part of the problem is that almost all the treatment methods are based in the 12-Step model which sees all addictions as moral failures.
We’re finally seeing the whole issue as a lot more complex. It is likely that addiction is a combination of bio-chemical and socio-economic factors that explain why the majority of humans do not get addicted to substances even if they occasionally become intoxicated by them. We still need more research but getting that funded when the primary acceptable reason for addiction is thought to be moral failure of the individual. Sadly we are missing the opportunity to deal directly with the real root causes because the moral failure assumption still rules the thinking and approaches towards dealing with addiction.
7
My gateway drug was alcohol. That is almost never mentioned as a gateway drug. My father was an alcoholic. He let me drink his beer and his rye and ginger ale. If Chris Christie and Jeff Sessions want to ban drugs, they should start with alcohol. It is possibly the most dangerous drug of all. Cannabis is quite possibly our "miracle drug" and it's been staring us in the face for eons.
7
"He let me drink his beer and his rye and ginger ale."
Edgar Allan Poe was fed gin by his nurse to keep him quite!
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33930
1
It isn't mentioned because it remains the favorite drug of those who operate and promote "anti-drug" programs.
2
"Both these gentlemen were engaged in the tobacco business, and being of Scotch nationality, the feeling of clanship led them to take a special interest in this family, whom they discovered to be of good Scotch stock. "Every6thing possible was done for their comfort, and Mrs. Allan herself came to minister to the sick woman. On her first visit she found Mrs. Tubbs feeding the children with bread soaked in sweetened gin and water, which she called "gin-tea," and explained that it was her custom, in order to "make them strong and healthy." This was little Edgar's initiation into the habit which became the bane and ruin of his life."
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33930
I'll share my hypothesis about the reason there is more heroin in our country. This is only a hypothesis, so take that for what it is. The cartels had a major cash cow in marijuana. The legalization in various states has put more supply into the system. This lowers the profit margin for illegal marijuana. What does any business do when they have a reduction in profit for one product? They move onto the next available high profit margin product. So, it may be that calling marijuana, alcohol, or nicotine gateway drugs is misleading. I think there is more supply of harder drugs in the market, thus more users.
3
The US government says marijuana isn’t a gateway substance;
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/mariju...
"The majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, "harder" substances. "
Gateway
http://anonhq.com/groundbreaking-study-reveals-marijuana-not-gateway-dru....
https://merryjane.com/news/debunking-the-cannabis-gateway-drug-fallacy
10
So the conclusion of all the "experts" comes down to: Can a person just say NO ? You can research it to death, it's always will boil down to an exercise of something called "free will".
4
Modern dope is a class A drug.
Why did the Times elect to put a small bag of pot as the lead picture in a story that details the effects of nicotine and alcohol as gateway drugs?
221
Someone in the newsroom just made a haphazard decision based on maximizing attention getting.
History will call us worse than the fall of the roman empire with our government enabling drug use for the imbeciles. It is a means to power and these marijuana huffing idiots do not realize they are writing their own obituary with legalization. Thank GOD for robots.
Why not save your ire for the substances chronicled in this study: alcohol and nicotine? Worth noting that in states where pot is now legal, opioid use has declined.
195
What a misleading headline and photo, both implying some new support for gateway theory on marijuana when in fact the article content refutes the notion and the particular study cited is on booze and cigarettes. Shameful propoganda banking on those that only read headlines.
177
Sometimes to change stubbornly held views, you have to suck someone in to a headline that appears to support their view, then knock it down. Not that I agree with the article, I never saw marijuana as causing a physical susceptibility to other drugs, only that it is a gateway to a social scene that certainly does lead to other drugs. For adults long removed from high school social pressures, this is not really an issue, but for high school kids that yearn for social acceptance, it really is a dangerous problem.
6
I have no doubt that the primary "gateway" drugs are prescription opiates and ADHD drugs.
26
Gateway to what?
i think he means that the life-long users of these drugs (adhd kids have no endgame they take aderall for life) end up being the addicts. also many doctors prescribe for chronic pain which was never an opiod treatment case
2
Prescription opiates yes, but ADHD drugs reduce the chances that a kid with ADHD will use other drugs, they don't increase it.
As an illegal drug, Marijuana is truly a gateway drug! Why, because such drug is sold by a person selling other more dangerous drugs. You go to your local drug dealer, he has other drugs he is looking to pitch, e.g., oxy, heroine, crack. When was the last time you went into a liquor store and the guy behind the counter is pitching you to buy heroine or cocaine? Never. You legalize the drug and control distribution and you are protecting society from the more dangerous drugs.
13
I agree legalization would mitigate distribution of harder drugs by limiting exposure to criminal drug dealers, but it would not stop the gateway to the drug social scene. To me, this is the real meaning of "gateway" from experience, high school kids yearning for social acceptance being befriended by older kids that are part of a wider social scene and that party hard. If you refused to smoke pot, you would almost certainly not be welcome in such social clubs. Then, once in and you go party every weekend, it is just a matter of time before you will be inundated with pitches about how amazing the latest and greatest drugs are. Also, being of the habit of using pot and alcohol (and to a lesser extend cigarettes) in order to "control" mood and the enjoyment of experiences, does indeed prime you to the logic that various drugs can be used to good effect, leading to a much greater openness to harder drugs.
1
Actually, if you go into a liquor store to buy a beer (5% alcohol by volume), you will encounter advertisements and displays enticing you to buy vodka, which is 8 times stronger (40% ABV). There are plenty of marijuana dealers who sell pot only, because they believe it is relatively harmless when used in moderation and of real benefit for those dealing with issues like chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety, the side effects of chemotherapy, and the like. Those sellers would never consider selling harder, more dangerous drugs.
19
People who sell pot don't typically sell other drugs. Drug dealers aren't one-stop shopping. You've been watching too much bad TV.
3
If you are going to use the gateway drug analogy, remember that gates go both in and out.
3
The root cause of drug addiction... A chance to feel better in an unhappy life.
142
Well said. Social malaise is the root of most problems.
Bob, this is a profound comment, thank you.
1
How will Liberal perceptions change once marijuana is recognized as a gateway drug to tobacco?
1
"Columbia University study published in November in Science Advances showed that rats exposed to alcohol were far more likely than other rats to push a lever that released cocaine."
Wow is this how desperate they've become? So because a rat pushes a lever that gets him high, when he's go nothing else going for him in his little glass cage except to get high, that means alcohol and Marijuana are gateway drugs. If any of us were locked in a small cage our whole lives, wouldn't you hit that lever too?
144
Not desperate. The salient point is that the study assesses whether the likelihood the rat will push the lever for cocaine is greater if the rat is exposed to marijuana or alcohol first compared with not being exposed to alcohol or marijuana first. It is not meant to assess if the rat will ever, and to what extent, push the lever for the cocaine.
As far as rats being cooped up by being research subjects, what do you propose? Experimenting on humans-exposing them to alcohol, MJ and cocaine? With the knowledge that perhaps some of them might become addicted as a result of an experiment if they had some predisposing factor(s) for addiction? That would be highly unethical and no human subjects approval body would ok such a research design (or we hope they wouldn't)
Of course, the research itself does not prove or disprove the gateway theory but is an interesting piece of evidence to be factored into aiding understanding of addiction. It doesn't seem we are going to return to a didactic approach (and probably an invalid interpretation of prior research) that use of substances such as marijuana and alcohol inevitably lead to harder drugs. In fact, to gather evidece based on humans, do an observational retrospective study of addicts using harder drugs who are queried about how they started and then calculate the proportion who started with drugs such as alcohol and MJ vs starting with harder substances. Informative and not an unethical prospective study on humans.
1
Exactly. A rat study like this, where the best thing in the rat's life is that cocaine lever, is not a good model for addiction biology. On the other hand, human life in this country is starting to resemble a rat cage in many respects. Perhaps we should look at the metaphorical "cage" as the real gateway.
1
I have been a smoker for 20 years and I have NEVER ONCE wanted to wreck my live with needles or pills. That is the job of the FDA.
43
It’s obvious that those who believe that marijuana is not a gateway drug are in favor of legalization of the drug. That would to lead to government taxation . Studies show marijuana causes increased risk of dementia and other neurological conditions. Thus, whether it’s a gateway drug is irrelevant
I think a larger factor is age. Younger people who try pot will be more likely to try other drugs, because that’s what kids are like. I never smoked much, or drank until I was 20. I enjoy alcohol and might take a rare hit if offered, but I’ve never been remotely interested in anything stronger.
1