Gateway to Nowhere? The evidence that pot doesn't lead to heroin.

Slate ^ | July 20, 2006

[Wolfie]

Gateway to Nowhere?

The evidence that pot doesn't lead to heroin.

Earlier this month, professor Yasmin Hurd of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine released a study showing that rats exposed to the main ingredient in marijuana during their adolescence showed a greater sensitivity to heroin as adults. The wire lit up with articles announcing confirmation for the "gateway theory"—the claim that marijuana use leads to harder drugs.

It's a theory that has long seemed to make intuitive sense, but remained unproven. The federal government's last National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted in 2004, counted about 97 million Americans who have tried marijuana, compared to 3 million who have tried heroin (166,000 had used it in the previous month). That's not much of a rush through the gateway. And a number of studies have demonstrated that your chances of becoming an addict are higher if addiction runs in your family, or if heroin is readily available in your community, or if you're a risk-taker. These factors can account for the total number of heroin addicts, which could make the gateway theory superfluous.

On close inspection, Hurd's research, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, doesn't show otherwise. For the most part, it's a blow to the gateway theory. To be sure, Hurd found that rats who got high on pot as adolescents used more heroin once they were addicted. But she found no evidence that they were more likely to become addicted than the rats in the control group who'd never been exposed to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, marijuana's main ingredient.

[uncbob]

People with potentially addictive personalities are more likely to experiment with anything, irrespective of what. You would think "scientists" would recognize that.

Very true BUT I wish they would call it addictive body chemistry ( can't help what you are born with )rather than personality

[Hardastarboard]

I would agree about the addictive body chemistry, but there is a personality component to it as well.

[uncbob]

I would agree about the addictive body chemistry, but there is a personality component to it as well.

True
Can't help what you are born with but how you handle it is where the person's character comes into play

[Hardastarboard]

Some of it is childhood, too. Drugs and alcohol help fill in and mask a lot of holes and pain that are caused by bad parents. Unfortunately.

[philman_36]

Quite possibly the lamest word ever coined on FR . . .
The coining of the word tells the tale of intent better than anything else.
Should I say more for clarification? (not that you need it HG...)

[tacticalogic]

I thought we both agreed that the vast majority of heroin users did use other drugs before heroin. Mere coincidence?

Wave your magic wand and find out.

[tacticalogic]

When you said "mild drugs" I didn't think that included alcohol. Take away the illegal mild drugs, and few would jump right into heroin. They'd either abstain or use alcohol.

Great. You want to get a bunch of people to switch from using a drug that's non-toxic or physically addictive to one that is. That's really going to help the situation.

[philman_36]

MARIJUANA AND MEDICINE: ASSESSING THE SCIENCE BASE
Marijuana As A "Gateway" Drug
Patterns in progression of drug use from adolescence to adulthood are strikingly regular. Because it is the most widely used illicit drug, marijuana is predictably the first illicit drug most people encounter. Not surprisingly, most users of other illicit drugs have used marijuana first. In fact, most drug users begin with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana -- usually before they are of legal age.
In the sense that marijuana use typically precedes rather than follows initiation of other illicit drug use, it is indeed a "gateway" drug. But because underage smoking and alcohol use typically precede marijuana use, marijuana is not the most common, and is rarely the first, "gateway" to illicit drug use. There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs. An important caution is that data on drug use progression cannot be assumed to apply to the use of drugs for medical purposes. It does not follow from those data that if marijuana were available by prescription for medical use, the pattern of drug use would remain the same as seen in illicit use.

A part I'm sure some hate...
Finally, there is a broad social concern that sanctioning the medical use of marijuana might increase its use among the general population. At this point there are no convincing data to support this concern. The existing data are consistent with the idea that this would not be a problem if the medical use of marijuana were as closely regulated as other medications with abuse potential.
Oh yeah, social "concerns" deserve social "awareness", and social "awareness" requires public "scrutiny" which requires...

[Know your rights]

Then by the same token, the legality of alcohol has given us more heroin users.

Are you referring to the end of Prohibition?

That, or any hypothetical scenario in which alcohol is an illegal drug rather than a legal one.

[robertpaulsen]

As you know, alcohol use increased during Prohibition to the point where, when the 21st amendment was ratified, there was no increase in use when alcohol became legal.

Care to support your incorrect statement that, "the legality of alcohol has given us more heroin users"?

[Know your rights]

As you know,

Wrong.

alcohol use increased during Prohibition to the point where, when the 21st amendment was ratified, there was no increase in use when alcohol became legal.

Evidence?

[robertpaulsen]

"As you know,
Wrong."

Right. You've posted the chart yourself, so you would know. I see no reason to waste my time posting it again.

Unless, of course, you're willing to go on record saying that alcohol consumption dropped during Prohibition, then increased after the 18th was repealed. THEN, I'll post the chart.

[Know your rights]

You've posted the chart yourself

Evidence?

[robertpaulsen]

Do you deny that you've posted the Alcohol Consumption by Year bar chart? Go away.

[Know your rights]

Yes. Do you have evidence to the contrary?

[robertpaulsen]

Are you unaware of the chart?

[Paved Paradise]

No. It's buttermilk. I blame the Amish for everything.

[Paved Paradise]

Exactly. Or... another thought. When you hang out with low-lifes who smoke pot, snort coke, etc., you are much more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors and have bad stuff happen to you. My dad always said you sink to the lowest common denominator; his advice was to soar with eagles. I did and am a better person for it.

[Know your rights]

Are you unaware of the chart?

Yes.

[robertpaulsen]

You never saw this before?