Posted on 12/04/2006 10:15:25 PM PST by neverdem
Marijuana is not a "gateway" drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study. Moreover, the study's findings call into question the long-held belief that has shaped prevention efforts and governmental policy for six decades and caused many a parent to panic upon discovering a bag of pot in their child's bedroom.
The Pitt researchers tracked 214 boys beginning at ages 10-12, all of whom eventually used either legal or illegal drugs. When the boys reached age 22, they were categorized into three groups: those who used only alcohol or tobacco, those who started with alcohol and tobacco and then used marijuana (gateway sequence) and those who used marijuana prior to alcohol or tobacco (reverse sequence).
Nearly a quarter of the study population who used both legal and illegal drugs at some point -- 28 boys -- exhibited the reverse pattern of using marijuana prior to alcohol or tobacco, and those individuals were no more likely to develop a substance use disorder than those who followed the traditional succession of alcohol and tobacco before illegal drugs, according to the study, which appears in this month's issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
"The gateway progression may be the most common pattern, but it's certainly not the only order of drug use," said Ralph E. Tarter, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and lead author of the study. "In fact, the reverse pattern is just as accurate for predicting who might be at risk for developing a drug dependence disorder."
In addition to determining whether the gateway hypothesis was a better predictor of substance abuse than competing theories, the investigators sought to identify characteristics that distinguished users in the gateway sequence from those who took the reverse path. Out of the 35 variables they examined, only three emerged to be differentiating factors: Reverse pattern users were more likely to have lived in poor physical neighborhood environments, had more exposure to drugs in their neighborhoods and had less parental involvement as young children. Most importantly, a general inclination for deviance from sanctioned behaviors, which can become evident early in childhood, was strongly associated with all illicit drug use, whether it came in the gateway sequence, or the reverse.
While the gateway theory posits that each type of drug is associated with certain specific risk factors that cause the use of subsequent drugs, such as cigarettes or alcohol leading to marijuana, this study's findings indicate that environmental aspects have stronger influence on which type of substance is used. That is, if it's easier for a teen to get his hands on marijuana than beer, then he'll be more likely to smoke pot. This evidence supports what's known as the common liability model, an emerging theory that states the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug but instead by the user's individual tendencies and environmental circumstances.
"The emphasis on the drugs themselves, rather than other, more important factors that shape a person's behavior, has been detrimental to drug policy and prevention programs," Dr. Tarter said. "To become more effective in our efforts to fight drug abuse, we should devote more attention to interventions that address these issues, particularly to parenting skills that shape the child's behavior as well as peer and neighborhood environments."
Indeed, according to the study, interventions focusing on behavior modification may be more effective prevention tactics than current anti-drug initiatives. For example, providing guidance to parents -- particularly those in high-risk neighborhoods -- on how to boost their caregiving skills and foster bonding with their children, could have a measurable effect on a child's likelihood to smoke marijuana. Also, early identification of children who exhibit antisocial tendencies could allow for interventions before drug use even begins.
Although this research has significant implications for drug abuse prevention approaches, Dr. Tarter notes that the study has some limitations. First, as only male behaviors were studied, further investigation should explore if the results apply to women as well. Also, the examination of behaviors in phases beyond alcohol and marijuana consumption in the gateway series will be necessary.
Other study authors include Michael Vanyukov, Ph.D., and Maureen Reynolds, Ph.D., and Levent Kirisci, Ph.D., also of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy; and Duncan Clark, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Who are they kidding?
I've never seen a kid who didn't use drugs turn into an addict!
Geez, this is great news. This must mean MJ is safe for teens to use.
Safer than booze, by a few orders of magnitude. It's not even a contest.
-ccm
Drum roll please..
WAIT A MINUTE! What about the Girls?
Candy and spice, yea, yea.
It was always the Girls who led the Boys into Alcohol and Marijuana abuse
in the first place. Girls are always the major factor, but never mentioned. /Geez.
What I find interesting is that this is still being debated and studied. I recall when I was in middle school over 30 years ago we were debating this.
Seems like a small sample.
I'm 52. I really enjoyed smoking marijuana when I was 18. I did it for about three years. I NEVER went on to anything stronger and haven't touched the stuff since roughly 1976.
I have lots of friends that smoked even more than me. One is a VERY successful commercial real estate developer and another is CIO of a large corporation. They outgrew it just like me. I do have one frend that still uses his bong from time to time. He is a second level manager at Microsoft.
It is a gateway for those who would have used whatever gateway was available. For the rest of us, we moved on.
>>Geez, this is great news. This must mean MJ is safe for teens to use.<<
Some will see it that way. The simple fact is that it is not as dangerous as some would have you believe, Reefer Madness notwithstanding.
That being said, let me make myself perfectly clear as to where I stand on its use: It is really, REALLY stupid to use marijuana for anything other than legitimate medical reasons - which is extremely rare.
That being said, let me make myself perfectly clear as to where I stand on its use:
I smoked the evil just a few times in my youth, but I did inhale. Today, I believe that people who use it regularily or abuse it, harm their lives.
I hate the war on drugs, but I'm not ready to legalize them.
I agree. But since it's "their" life and not mine...yadda yadda yadda.
"Safer than booze, by a few orders of magnitude. It's not even a contest. "
This is true, and doesn't even need to be opinion, it can obviously be demonstrated.
Level of intoxication: Have a person on a empty stomach, who doesn't normally drink, down 6 beers, and check out their level of physical/mental impairment. Would it be possible to smoke enough cannabis to reach that same level of impairmnet? Not possible... never... no amount of pot smoked could ever bring one to the level of impairment of senses and judgement that alcohol can. It just isn't possible.
Physical withdrawl: Alcoholics in withdrawal have panic, hallucinations, possible seizures and, rarely, the alcohol WD can be fatal if not properly treated. Cannabis is not physically addictive and no withdrawal from it exists.
Violence: Who gets high on pot and goes home and beats his wife?...It just doesn't do that.. it has the opposite effect... how many guys are going to leave work and drown their sorrows in a 12 pack of Miller Light and then go home and take it out, physically, on their wife and kids.... we all know the answer, unfortunately.
Poisoning/Death: You can die easily from respiratory arrest after a certain blood alcohol level is reached, if you're not in a deep coma before you drink that much. You could never smoke enough pot to kill yourself.. there is no known lethal dose of smoked cannabis... it does not exist, cannot happen, never has.. the active ingredient just doesn't work that way.
The fact that one is legal and the other is not, and the legal one is far more dangerous in every way is your typical demonstration of government logic.
(By the way, so we're clear, I don't smoke the stuff, did when I was alot younger, hate the way it makes me feel)
You have an interesting heirarchy of illicit drugs!
My heirarchy goes like this, starting at "least evil" and progressing to "most evil".:
Light beer (Miller Light, Bud Light)
Fruity Malt beverages (Zima, Wine Coolers, Smirnoff beverages
Real beer (Guinness, Sierra Nevada Stout and Porter)
Premixed cocktails (Kahlua mudslide and B-52)
Low quality weed (mexican import, brown and flat, smells like dirt)
High quality weed (domestic, greener in color, noticable "skunk" smell
True psychoactives (psylicibin mushrooms, LSD)
Ecstasy
Cocaine
Methampetamine
Heroin
But this is my own personal opinion. Feel free to add any drug I omitted, except for the bark of the Rojo Tree that grows only in Papua New Guinea. That stuff is awesome!
Either one is fantastic and really adds to the buzz you get from the low quality weed...
Col Sanders
Well there is a lethal dose, it's just humanly impossible to achieve. I believe it's something like smoking a thousand pounds in an hour. Of course, hash is different than plain old MJ since it's concentrated THC. A hash OD isn't hard to reach.
those who used only alcohol or tobacco, those who started with alcohol and tobacco and then used marijuana (gateway sequence)
Hopefully the gateway sequence they used is more complex than that. Correlation does not equal causation.
"Well there is a lethal dose, it's just humanly impossible to achieve. I believe it's something like smoking a thousand pounds in an hour."
Impossible!... if *that* was the lethal dose, I'd have died in the parking lot of that Metallica show..... (LOL.. j/k) ;-)
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