cannabisnews.com: Is Pot Actually a Gateway Drug?





Is Pot Actually a Gateway Drug?
Posted by CN Staff on January 27, 2003 at 14:40:16 PT
By David Bjerklie
Source: Time Magazine 
Parents and school principals are always trying to scare kids with the message that smoking pot will lead to harder drugs. Well, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the grownups may be on to something. By tracking 311 pairs of Australian twins (both fraternal and identical) in which one twin used marijuana before age 17 and the other did not, researchers have been able to show that early pot users are as much as five times more likely to use or abuse cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, sedatives or alcohol.
This isn't the first study to call pot a gateway drug. What makes this one so persuasive is that it factors in such things as economic background, family upbringing and even, in the case of identical twins, genetic makeup. "We actually were expecting that by using twins, we'd find that the association between early use and later abuse would disappear," says Michael Lynskey, a visiting psychiatry professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and the study's lead author.Does marijuana use trigger subtle biochemical changes that encourage drug-taking behavior? Or does cannabis give kids an entree into social circles where stronger drugs are used? The study doesn't have all the answers, but it does offer kids another reason to heed their elders.Complete Title: One Tokes, The Other Doesn't: Is Pot Actually a Gateway Drug?From the Feb. 03, 2003 issue of TIME magazine.Source: Time Magazine Author:  David BjerkliePublished: February 03, 2003Copyright: 2003 Time Inc.Contact: letters time.comWebsite: http://www.time.com/time/Related Articles & Web Site:NORML: Marijuana Truth Campaignhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/truth.pdf High Road: Marijuana as a Gateway Drug http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15281.shtmlEarly Marijuana Smoking Tied To Later Drug Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15247.shtmlMarijuana No Gateway To Cocaine and Heroinhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14879.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by kegan on January 28, 2003 at 03:20:52 PT
Other drugs
The only times I did harder drugs (doctor drugs, codeine, etc.)... was when I didn't smoke pot....
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on January 27, 2003 at 23:13:51 PT
Duzt 
That's ok. Thanks for your comment!
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Comment #6 posted by Duzt on January 27, 2003 at 23:00:16 PT
oops
please excuse the spelling and grammar, it's been a long day and it's not like I had 2 chances to get it right :)
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Comment #5 posted by Duzt on January 27, 2003 at 22:57:52 PT
Lies are the gateway
The point a lot of people miss is that a person who has been lied to their whole life about cannabis who then tries cannabis is going to then question everything else they have been taught about drugs. Hey, they lied about what cannabis does and how harmful it is so they probably lied about the seriousness of cocaine and meth too (they now say that cannabis is more dangerous than meth and cocaine). The person who doesn't try cannabis isn't challenging those lies sp assumes they are true. John Walters has never tried cannabis, neither has Joh Ashcrift, think they would feel the same if they did try it? Probably, but their idiots too, so they don't count. 
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on January 27, 2003 at 19:13:08 PT
yes gateway OFF hard drug addiction.
Cannabis helps people get of crack and other dangerous addictive drugs.
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Comment #3 posted by pokesmotter on January 27, 2003 at 19:05:40 PT:
no gateway
Anyone who wants to know I have smoked weed through 4 years of high school and i still smoke here at college. Never had i done other "drugs" or had the desire to.
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Comment #2 posted by p4me on January 27, 2003 at 15:30:47 PT
A blunt LTE
On several occassions I have called for the boycott of all Time Warner advertising booklets that have articles like this one that appeared at http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread15292.shtml I strongly urge everyone I know to drop AOL as it is overpriced anyway. 
 
There is a bigger and more important issue with the cannabis wars than the meaningless propaganda you published here. There is the issue of corruption and control of the media to propagandize and demonize cannabis. You are embarrassing yourself to the knowledgeable.
 
You should interview Dr. Russo from Missoula, Montana and see what a real expert has to say. And I wish you would address the issue how 4 out 5 Americans are for medical cannabis and the government does not listen and only spouts lies that are then parroted in magazines like Time.
 
Just another lousy piece of work for sure. Do you people know what real science is or understand the concept of importance of issues as in priorities?
 
You guys might have a bunch of dunces working there to keep down expenses so let me say it where everyone can understand it. Your article sucks and your magazine is not worth supporting. Boycott AOL/Time Warner.
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Comment #1 posted by 420toker on January 27, 2003 at 14:45:33 PT
HA 
The study doesn't have all the answers, but it does offer kids another reason to heed their elders.translationWe don't know so listen to us anyway.
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