Study: Marijuana Does Not Lead to Hard Drugs

Reuters ^ | Dec. 2, 2002 | unknown

[Sparta]

— WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Countering a basic principle of American anti-drug policies, an independent U.S. study concluded on Monday that marijuana use does not lead teenagers to experiment with hard drugs like heroin or cocaine.

The study by the private, nonprofit RAND Drug Policy Research Center rebutted the theory that marijuana acts as a so-called gateway drug to more harmful narcotics, a key argument against legalizing pot in the United States.

The researchers did not advocate easing restrictions in marijuana, but questioned the focus on this substance in drug control efforts.

Using data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse between 1982 and 1994, the study concluded teenagers who took hard drugs were predisposed to do so whether they tried marijuana first or not.

"Kids get their first opportunity to use marijuana years before they get their first exposure to hard drugs," said Andrew Morral, lead author of the RAND study.

"Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It's just the first thing kids often come across."

Morral said 50 percent of U.S. teenagers had access to marijuana by the age of 16, while the majority had no exposure to cocaine, heroin or hallucinogens until they were 20.

The study, published in the British journal Addiction, does not advocate legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, which has been linked to side-effects including short-term memory loss.

But given limited resources, Morral said the U.S. government should reconsider the prominence of marijuana in its much-publicized "war on drugs."

"To a certain extent we are diverting resources away from hard drug problems," he said. "Spending money on marijuana control may not be having downstream consequences on the use of hard drugs."

Researchers say predisposition to drug use has been linked to genetic factors and one's environment, including family dynamics and the availability of drugs in the neighborhood.

[Sparta]

Got the flame suit on so flame away.

[breakem]

but it does lead to hot fudge sundaes

[Jonathon Spectre]

In a related story, 2 + 2 = 4.

[Argus]

I can't remember what it leads to.

[wideawake]

Every pot smoker I knew in college and the post-college years experimented with harder drugs. Everyone I've ever met who had a problem with hard drugs was also a potsmoker.

Conversely, I and the other nonpotsmokers I know haven't had any experience, let alone difficulties, with hard drugs.

Reality check - how many people do you know who have made this statement: "I'll do smack and blow, but I'll never touch that demon weed!"

[SunStar]

Every pot smoker I knew in college and the post-college years experimented with harder drugs. Everyone I've ever met who had a problem with hard drugs was also a potsmoker.

Your statement is not one of fact or evidence.

[BrooklynGOP]

Every pot smoker I knew in college and the post-college years experimented with harder drugs. Everyone I've ever met who had a problem with hard drugs was also a potsmoker.

Everyone I've ever met who did hard drugs/weed was a drinker! Alcohol is the getaway drug.

[Monty22]

Yet his statement jives with what I've experienced as well... Funny how that works.

[trebb]

If this report is right, I was an anomaly - it's been over 15 years since I did drugs, but MJ got me over the initial fear of the unknown. After that, it was a steady progression up to the "bigger/better" stuff. It may not cause hard drug use, but it definitely paves the way...

[Kerberos]

Old news. The gateway myth was disproved many years ago but for some reason it keeps popping up from time to time, as though it is some newfound evidence. Guess it is just another way to get funding for doing research, and then writing about the same old stuff..

[wideawake]

Oddly enough, I've had many people tell me that they hate alcohol, but enjoy pot.

I've never tried pot (or any other illegal substance for that matter) myself, but I do enjoy a good single malt.

[Phantom Lord]

Virtually every person I know who does or has done "hard drugs" also smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, drank milk, ate bread, read meat, vegetables, and breathed oxygen.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[jmc813]

I tried the *Wod_list in the to field. Could you tell me if this showed up OK?

[thegreatbeast]

You are correct, sir. The gentleman's experience is anectdotal but if his experience matches up with the experience of everyone else (as it undoubtedly does) than observations become observable fact.
Finding recreational users or abusers of drugs who haven't used marijuana will be just a bit easieer than finding an honest man.

[Ronin]

potato chip massacres....

[SunStar]

Yet his statement jives with what I've experienced as well... Funny how that works.

Well, I've found the opposite to be true. Funny how that works too.

[Smogger]

I did drugs, but MJ got me over the initial fear of the unknown.

Ah! And therein lies the rub. Because "they" lied to you, and told you terrible terrible things were going to happen to you when you smoked pot. And guess what happend when you finally tried it and didn't die? You said to yourself.. Hell! Maybe they are lying about cocaine/speed/heroin too?

That's one of the problems with our governments approach to drug education. They want to classify all drugs as being equally bad. Which of course is a load of sh-t. And when kids figure out that it is a load of sh-t and realise that they have been lied to about drug A. Well then they don't believe the truth about drug B. Though it maybe true.

[Tony Niar Brain]

-- If X smokes weed, then X will do harder drugs later in life.

-- If X does not do harder drugs later in life, X does not smoke weed.

These are logically equivalent statements; either both are true or both are false. If you say marijuana is a gateway drug, you are also saying that casual users do not exist. That is simply not so.

[SunStar]

Finding recreational users or abusers of drugs who haven't used marijuana will be just a bit easieer than finding an honest man.

That is NOT the point. The question is whether the majority of pot smokers use other drugs, not the opposite (which I am sure is true). If the majority of pot users do not use other drugs, then it is not a gateway drug, even if the majority of hard drug users also use pot.

Get it now?