Would federal legalization kill the drug trade? Would drug cartels move to cocaine, heroin, and meth? Would the crime rate drop as marijuana becomes legal?
I could never prove it, but I have always thought that marijuana was a gateway drug, not because of some physical chemical mechanism, but because in order to buy it you have to deal with the criminal element, who can then push you onto other drugs such as heroin or crack.
Limit the exposure to the pushers, limit the opportunities for pushers to push other drugs.
Maybe? Dunno.
I could never prove it, but I have always thought that marijuana was a gateway drug, “
Because it was never true, and still is not true. There have been only a couple studies on the “Gateway Drug”, they stopped doing them entirely 30 years ago after the results showed that
90% of Heroin Addicts NEVER SMOKED POT, but
100% smoked tobacco and drank alcohol
There just isn’t that big a market for the harder drugs. Legalization would decimate the cartels.
“I could never prove it, but I have always thought that marijuana was a gateway drug, not because of some physical chemical mechanism, but because in order to buy it you have to deal with the criminal element, who can then push you onto other drugs such as heroin or crack.”
I’ve been saying much the same thing for years — I agree with you 100%.