PARTS San Diego 1999
Gateway Drugs
For many teens, a progression towards using increasingly dangerous substances starts with cigarettes and alcohol, moves to marijuana and then on to other illicit drugs. When teens start to use nicotine, alcohol and marijuana, no one can predict who will go on to use other illicit drugs. What can be predicted is that , for those teens that do use these dangerous substances, there is a much greater likelihood that they will go on to use other illicit drugs.
Two important conclusions came out of this work:
The earlier a teen starts using cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana, the greater the likelihood that the teen will use other illicit drugs.
The more frequently a teen uses cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana, the greater the likelihood that the teen will use other drugs.
In general, this report found that teens who used these three substances were over 30% more likely to use other illicit drugs as compared to teens that report using none of these substances. For these reasons, alcohol, nicotine and marijuana are referred to as gateway drugs to other illicit drug use.
URL: http://www.teendrughelp.org/Gateway%20Drugs.htm
You stated your opposition to drugs based on the potential danger posed to yourself by drug addicts driving cars on public roads. Do you favor alcohol prohibition for the same reasons or do you make a special exception for booze?