Posted on 08/21/2002 8:38:22 AM PDT by JediGirl
To wit:
National Study Shows "Gateway" Drugs Lead to Cocaine Use
The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia (CASA) released a study Oct. 27 showing that children (12 to 17 years old) who use gateway drugs--tobacco, alcohol and marijuana--are up to 266 times--and adults who use such drugs are up to 323 times--more likely to use cocaine than those who don't use any gateway drugs.
"This study--the most comprehensive national assessment ever undertaken--reveals a consistent and powerful connection between the use of cigarettes and alcohol and the subsequent use of marijuana, and between the use of cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana and the subsequent use of cocaine and other illicit drugs," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's president and former HEW secretary.
The CASA study establishes a clear progression that begins with gateway drugs and leads to cocaine use: nearly 90 percent of people who have ever tried cocaine used all three gateway substances first. More than half followed a progression from cigarettes to alcohol to marijuana and then on to cocaine.
The CASA study also concludes that the earlier a child starts to use these gateway drugs, and the more frequently, the greater the likelihood of using hard drugs. For example, children who smoke cigarettes daily are 13 times more likely to use heroin than children who smoke less often.
The study is the most comprehensive to date using national data that looks at both children and adults and all gateway substances. The research is based on the 1991 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"No matter how we looked at the numbers, whether the user was white, black, male or female, the statistical connection between smoking, drinking or using marijuana and subsequent illicit drug use is clear," said Califano.
CASA's analysis reveals:
Children who use marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than non-marijuana users. (Ninety percent of children who used marijuana smoked tobacco or drank first.)
Children who drink are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than non-drinkers.
Children who smoke tobacco are 19 times more likely to use cocaine than nonsmokers.
The CASA study also links the use of gateway drugs by children with subsequent regular use of illicit substances as adults:
Adults who used marijuana as children are 17 times more likely to be regular cocaine users. (Ninety-one percent of adults who used marijuana as children smoked tobacco or drank first.)
Adults who drank as children are six times more likely to be regular cocaine users.
"Ultimately, prevention is our only hope for stemming the tide of new addicts. If we can keep our children and teens from smoking, drinking and using marijuana, then we can go a long way towards preventing the use of all dangerous drugs," said Califano.
"The primary basis for this 'gateway hypothesis' is a recent report by the center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), claiming that marijuana users are 85 times more likely than non-marijuana users to try cocaine. This figure, using data from NIDA's 1991 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, is close to being meaningless. It was calculated by dividing the proportion of marijuana users who have ever used cocaine (17%) by the proportion of cocaine users who have never used marijuana (.2%)." - "The Myth of Marijuana's Gateway Effect" by John P. Morgan, M.D. and Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D.
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