Researcher's Study of Twins Bolsters 'Gateway Theory' (For Early Marijuana Use)

Medscape ^ | 2003 | Brown University Behavior Letter

[PaxMacian]

"He that is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone"

Please perfect child tell us sinners more tales
of your just cause of stoning partakers of herb.
Tell us more of your noble cause of thievery in
service of the collective. Tell us about how the State,
seperated from God and the Church,
makes for a better father for us all.(Sarcasm)

[PaxMacian]

You are, of course, correct.
Surely this entire issue is solely semantic.
Herb or Weed?
This is what the debate really boils down to.
Abuse of power from heads of church and state
led directly to the formation of this Free Republic.
Abuse of power by leaders of our government has led
to the usurpation of the Constitution through semantics,
expanding the commerce clause to empower the government
to eradicate an herb given by God to man and beast alike
at the beginning of time and which has grown freely almost everywhere,
including here long before and even long after our nation was formed.
Moreover, this unjust expansion of power disregards one of the greatest fundamental laws of this land.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

There is nothing more dangerous than secular puritanism.

[tacticalogic]

The issue isn't semantic, it's ideological. Semantics is just a tool. It can be use to convey and idea, or to obscure or misrepresent it. As with any tool, it can also be a weapon, it can build or destroy. How it is used is the measure of the hand than holds it, and the mind that guides it, not the of the tool itself, or the finished product.

[Gianni]

Nice try but it still means marijuana makes teens 85 times more likely to try coke.

No, once again, I'll tell you: That's not what the study says.

I'm trying to think of some way to simplify the above sentence, but just can't seem to come up with one. Here, let me help:

Presidio9: Marijuana makes you 85 times more likely to do coke.

Study: Coke users 85 times more likely to have used marijuana.

Do you see the difference, or is this totally lost on you?

Your other flaw was telling PaxMacian that this was somehow a representative (i.e. not 'hand picked') sample. That cannot be true. Any random sample of twins would not turn up a statistically meaningful sample of either pot or coke users.

[Gianni]

G: The only thing stopping my mother from becoming a heroine addict is the illegality of pot.

p9: You are another example of the brain damage that marijuana causes.

I was mocking his logic you idiot.

Unfortunately, you cannot mock someone's logic by repeating your own. That is, unless, you started 'mocking his logic' in post #8.

[presidio9]

Where did I EVER say that EVERYONE who smokes pot becomes a heroin addict?

Hint: I didn't, but you seem to be too stupid to figure that out.

[presidio9]

Do you see the difference, or is this totally lost on you?

I'm sure that you WISH the two wordings meant something different, but if coke users are 85 times more likely to have used pot, that means the exact same thing as kids who smoke pot are 85 times more likely to use coke. Exactly the same thing. But keep harping on it if you like. All it does is reinforce the message that your drug addled mind constantly tries to reinvent the truth to justify your addiction. You and your kind are truely pathetic.

[Gianni]

Hint: I didn't, but you seem to be too stupid to figure that out.

Hallmark of a drug warrior. Grow up.

[Gianni]

if coke users are 85 times more likely to have used pot, that means the exact same thing as kids who smoke pot are 85 times more likely to use coke.

No, sorry, it doesn't.

When polled, Musky fisherman indicated that they started out by panfishing with a ratio of 85 to 1.

The above says nothing about panfisherman, very few of whom pursue musky fishing seriously. (A better analogy exists probably, but I've got fishing on the brain today).

[presidio9]

Moral indignance: The hallmark of a self-absorbed drug addict.

[Gianni]

G: Grow up.

P9: Moral indignance: The hallmark of a self-absorbed drug addict.

I see you failed to take my advice.

Insistance that flawed logic is valid: The hallmark of a self-absorbed drug warrior.

[presidio9]

Insistance that flawed logic is valid:

How is my logic flawed? You have yet to counter it. Like all the addicts you just keep repeating the same nonsense in the hope that I'll go away.

[Gianni]

I provided you a counterexample. Perhaps in your adrenaline-induced state, you missed it?

[GoldMan]

I think it is a gateway drug because the guy
who sells it to you has all the other stuff too.
If you could buy pot at walgreens you may never
get exposed to cocaine.

[TigersEye]

Say old chum, have you heard that none other than Ozzie Osborn himself says that pot smoking led his son Jack to try harder drugs?

Sounds like 'ole dad is trying to duck responsibility for his own influence on his son. Just like the WODies try to throw off blame for their influence on this mess of crime, corruption and politics.