Researcher's Study of Twins Bolsters 'Gateway Theory' (For Early Marijuana Use)

Medscape ^ | 2003 | Brown University Behavior Letter

[shrinkermd]

Many studies have examined the "gateway" theory, that marijuana use at a young age leads to use of harder drugs as a person grows older. While there is a general consensus among studies that those who use marijuana are much more likely to use hard drugs and that hard drug users usually use marijuana first, there is lively debate surrounding the reasons for these dynamics.

[presidio9]

What is NOT accepted---nor true---is the researchers' assumption that "twins, having been raised in the same household, would have environmental experiences that were highly concordant."

Nobody is exactly the same, but twins have the closest enviornmental experience, and are therefore accepted as the best subjects for these types of studies. And I think that we can agree that 311 pairs is a relevant sample. And when the study found that users of marijuana before the age of 17 had a 2.3- to 3.9-fold increase in the odds of other drug use, we can reasonably conclude that the study had discovered a significant behavioral pattern. Your rebuttal was irrelevant because twins studies are already widely accepted. I'm sure you wish they weren't (THEY PROVE YOU ARE WONG), but they are.

bump

[PaxMacian]

Don't blame the caretakers, the parents, or the individual for his acts of free will. Worship the all seeing Ozzy if you dare. If any thing is responsible for Jack Osborne trying hard drugs it is first and foremost the sins of the father. But, fame is to blame in part. Even the show producers should take some blame, since they had to be around facilitating through the blind eye peering luridly from behind a camera as he cohorts with the notoriously heroine chic promoters of the hard core. It is all about ratings and sound bites.

1 Kings 15:3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him:...

[presidio9]

90 percent of kids who drink and smoke try marijuana, and that's not a problem for you? I guess you don't care about the kids after all.

Read the research more carefully Perry Mason.

Morons. I'm debating with morons.

[presidio9]

Actually I'm not much of a fan of Ozzie. I just realize that he has spent his entire life surrounded by drugs and drug useres. He is in a unique position to determine what their effects might be on a person.

[presidio9]

Right. And kids who smoke pot are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than non pot-smokers.

[PaxMacian]

I have identical twins in my family and I can tell you that they are the most competitive and contrasted members of a rather large family. The two have gone in opposite directions like magnets repulsing each other. No doubt that if you choose sets of twins that take opposite directions in life that they will retain those directions throughout most of their lives. This is the only fact that can be derived from this obviously bogus study.

[Wolfie]

You seem to think that the gateway theory is valid, unless you don't want it to be. It that's not moronic, I don't know what is.

[presidio9]

The use 311 pairs would tend to preclude prejudiced sampling.

[PaxMacian]

If you are not a fan of this satanist then why do you espouse his beliefs while denying the simple words of God?

[presidio9]

You seem to think that the gateway theory is valid, unless you don't want it to be. It that's not moronic, I don't know what is.

How do you figure? Of the drugs that we are talking about, cocaine and marijuana are the only ones that kids have not generally seen their parents using (responsibly in most cases). They are therefore unique.

[PaxMacian]

311 pairs where one of the pair has used and the other not used is absolutely and undeniably prejudiced sampling.

[presidio9]

I just told you: "I just realize that he has spent his entire life surrounded by drugs and drug useres. He is in a unique position to determine what their effects might be on a person."

What words of God are you talking about?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Only five posts before you asked the question.

My bad, sorry in all of yesterday's hubbub I missed it.

[headsonpikes]

"Asking for proof of a negative...is logically inadmissable..."

And this indubitable fact is of consequence to p9 and other WODdie posters just how, may I ask?

It's not as if logical and scientific considerations loom large in their mental landscapes, dominated as they are by sinkholes of ignorance and unreason.

Patience of Job bump. ;^)

[Skooz]

Of course it is. Just see post #119 for proof.

[Wolfie]

How do you figure?

If, as the gateway theory suggests, marijuana use leads to cocaine use, and alcohol and cigarette use lead to marijuana use, then alcohol and cigarette use lead to cocaine use. If A = B, and B = C, then A = C.

[Servant of the Nine]

Surely someone so interested in drugs has at least heard of the wonders of painkillers.

If the availability of painkillers was real and not theoretical you might have some small point. In fact, most doctors are too afraid of the DEA to prescribe adequate pain medication for the terminally ill.

And what do you have against individual choice?
Do you feel threatened that some might not make the same choice as you, or are you just some kind of fascist who likes telling people how to live, or not live, their lives?
What others do about living or not living is none of your business nor any of the governments business.

So9

[presidio9]

311 pairs where one of the pair has used and the other not used is absolutely and undeniably prejudiced sampling.

You too huh? Are any of you guys capable of reading and comprehending a fairly simple and straightforward research report. The study examined 311 pairs of twins and then looked for twins who used and THEN looked for twins who didn't.

Morons. I'm debating with morons.

[PaxMacian]

"And would it not still be illegal to cultivate it in private?"

Tell me, why it is illegal to cultivate herb now?
Some seem to believe that an herb given by God to man and beast alike at the beginning of time and which happens to have grown freely almost everywhere, including here long before our nation was formed, is permissibly eradicable by the federal government through powers granted by the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. Though, nobody has ever shown me a logical explanation of how this could be true.

I can grow hundreds of herbs in my own garden all of which have an effect on the human body in one way or another. Some have medicinal properties. Some which I am permitted to grow have portions that are deadly if ingested at all and others if in too high a quantity. Why this one herb? There is no justification for imprisoning an individual for possession of a flower or growing an herb from the garden of God solely on the basis that it may alter the thoughts in that individual in a manner deemed inappropriate by corporate pawns seeking to maintain the efficiency of their chattel.

[presidio9]

If, as the gateway theory suggests, marijuana use leads to cocaine use, and alcohol and cigarette use lead to marijuana use, then alcohol and cigarette use lead to cocaine use. If A = B, and B = C, then A = C.

Wrong. Because most kids have used alcohol and smoked at least one cigarette, of course most kids who smoke pot are going to have first smoked or drank. Again, you invent "logic" to suit your cause. On the other hand, the percentage of kids who have used pot is significantly lower, but those who have are 85 times more likely to try cocaine.