cannabisnews.com: There's No Such Thing as a 'Gateway Drug'
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There's No Such Thing as a 'Gateway Drug'
Posted by CN Staff on May 29, 2009 at 06:09:09 PT
By Scott Morgan, DRCNet
Source: AlterNet 
USA -- The surging debate surrounding the legalization of marijuana has brought with it the resurrection of the "gateway theory," which alleges that experimenting with marijuana leads to the use of harder drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The gateway debate was reborn last week, thanks to a video of FBI director Robert Mueller testifying before Congress that marijuana should be illegal because it leads to more dangerous drug use.
Although the Mueller video has provoked amusement on pot-friendly websites, the unfortunate reality is that the "gateway drug" stigma continues to present an impediment to the reform of marijuana laws. A new Rasmussen poll found that a large percentage of Americans believe the gateway argument:The new survey also shows that nearly half of voters (46%) believe marijuana use leads to use of harder drugs. Thirty-seven percent (37%) do not see marijuana as a "gateway" drug.Revealingly, the percentage who opposed marijuana legalization and the percentage who believed in the gateway theory were identical, both coming in at exactly 46%. As we look for ways to persuade those who remain opposed to marijuana reform, it's clearly in our interest to work towards demolishing the pernicious gateway theory once and for all. Let's take a look at what the data shows.In 1999, the National Institute on Drug Abuse commissioned a major study on medical marijuana conducted by the venerable Institute of Medicine, which included an examination of marijuana's potential to lead to other drug use. In simple terms, the researchers explained why the gateway theory was unfounded:Patterns in progression of drug use from adolescence to adulthood are strikingly regular. Because it is the most widely used illicit drug, marijuana is predictably the first illicit drug most people encounter. Not surprisingly, most users of other illicit drugs have used marijuana first. In fact, most drug users begin with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana -- usually before they are of legal age.There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.In 2006, the University of Pittsburgh released a more thorough study in which researchers spent 12 years tracking a group of subjects from adolescence into adulthood and documented the initiation and progression of their drug use. The researchers found that the gateway theory was not only wrong, but also harmful to properly understanding and addressing drug abuse:This evidence supports what’s known as the common liability model, an emerging theory that states the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug but instead by the user’s individual tendencies and environmental circumstances.“The emphasis on the drugs themselves, rather than other, more important factors that shape a person’s behavior, has been detrimental to drug policy and prevention programs,” Dr. Tarter said. “To become more effective in our efforts to fight drug abuse, we should devote more attention to interventions that address these issues, particularly to parenting skills that shape the child’s behavior as well as peer and neighborhood environments.”Of course, the simplest refutation of the gateway theory is the basic fact that most marijuana users just don't use other drugs. As the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports:More than 100 million Americans have tried marijuana; 14.4 million Americans are estimated to be "past-month" users. Yet there are only an estimated 2,075,000 "past-month" users of cocaine and 153,000 "past-month" users of heroin. - DrugWarFactsClearly, people who use marijuana overwhelmingly do not move on to other drug use. That's why the number of people who use marijuana will always be more than 10 times greater than the number of people who use cocaine, heroin, etc. The fact that marijuana users rarely become involved in other drug use is right here in front of us.Unfortunately, there is one important way in which marijuana use can result in exposure to other more dangerous drugs. Laws against marijuana have created an unregulated black market, in which criminals control the supply and may attempt to market more dangerous drugs to people who just want marijuana. As the Journal of the American Medical Association reported in 2003:Alternatively, experience with and subsequent access to cannabis use may provide individuals with access to other drugs as they come into contact with drug dealers. This argument provided a strong impetus for the Netherlands to effectively decriminalize cannabis use in an attempt to separate cannabis from the hard drug market. This strategy may have been partially successful as rates of cocaine use among those who have used cannabis are lower in the Netherlands than in the United States."Ironically, the only real gateway that exists is created by marijuana prohibition, yet proponents of harsh marijuana laws cynically cite the damage they've caused as evidence that the drug itself is acutely harmful. It's truly the height of absurdity, yet it persists despite the mountain of categorical data I've outlined above.The point here isn’t just that marijuana isn’t actually a "gateway drug," but that there really is no such thing as a gateway drug to begin with. The term was invented by hysterical anti-drug zealots for the specific purpose of linking marijuana with harmful outcomes that couldn’t otherwise be established. Everyone knows marijuana is completely non-lethal, but if it leads to sticking needles in your arm, anything's possible. Through repeated use, the term began to stick and we're now confronted with a marijuana legalization debate in which 46% of the country believes an antiquated, widely-refuted fabrication that erroneously renders marijuana as deadly and unpredictable as anything a scared parent can imagine.It's perfectly typical of the unhinged drug war demagogues that one of their most popular anti-pot propaganda points doesn't even actually have anything to do with pot. Their tireless reliance on such nonsense may go a long way towards explaining why support for legalization is growing faster than ever before.Source: AlterNet (US)Author: Scott Morgan, DRCNetPublished: May 29, 2009Copyright: 2009 Independent Media InstituteContact: letters alternet.org Website: http://www.alternet.org/URL: http://alternet.org/drugreporter/140322/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on May 31, 2009 at 08:28:00 PT
My 2 Cents
When something tragic or even just offensive to people happens the way we in America try to fix it is like locking the barn after the horse is stolen. All it takes is a serious mess up and they will make a law and lock the barn door. It's almost like they react to fear and not reason. ***From Answer.com -- Also, lock the stable door after the horse is stolen. Take precautions after damage has occurred. For example, After the burglary they installed an alarm system, but it's locking the barn door, or Deciding to negotiate now after they've been fired--that's a matter of locking the stable door after the horse is stolen. These expressions of action that is useless because it comes too late have long been proverbs in many languages and first appeared in English in the mid-1300s.http://www.answers.com/topic/lock-the-barn-door-after-the-horse-has-bolted
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Comment #8 posted by John Tyler on May 31, 2009 at 08:08:03 PT
Re erroneous gateway drug theory
You and I both have seen this in both government and business decision-making… when decisions, policies or laws are made based on faulty or erroneous information then the decisions, policies or laws thus made are themselves faulty, erroneous, and unjust. Few people seem to care or notice though.
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Comment #7 posted by Vincent on May 29, 2009 at 18:19:18 PT:
Gateway Article
Excellent article loaded with a lot of truth. Print more articles like this one and you will definitely make my day.
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Comment #6 posted by BGreen on May 29, 2009 at 16:26:33 PT
Hundreds of billions have been spent so far
Hundreds of billions have been spent so far by the US government and private organizations to disseminate lies about cannabis as truths. That people now believe these lies as truths isn't hard to understand.The only answer to the lies of the prohibitionists will be their admission to manufacturing the lies in the first place. Understandably, getting them to do that will be harder than pulling our own teeth with a pair of tweezers and, even then, many people will always believe the lies of the prohibitionists.The fact that so many already doubt the government propaganda despite the continued all-out assault on cannabis is reassuring. They're losing this war and I couldn't be happier.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #5 posted by rchandar on May 29, 2009 at 13:13:29 PT:
EAH
Protect the children! Protect the children! They're our future!(But some of us don't have children).
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Comment #4 posted by EAH on May 29, 2009 at 12:15:15 PT
Lies and the lying liars that tell them.
If I had the means I would launch a national ad campaign to fight these lies and expose the liars who repeat them. Unfortunately, like the "Obama is a Muslim" and "Obama is not a US citizen" lies you can PROVE to peoples face that it is a lie but many will simply refuse to believe the truth. 
Tougher still is convincing cowardly politicians that public opinion has shifted and they need not fear cannabis reform, it's safe to vote for it now.
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Comment #3 posted by rchandar on May 29, 2009 at 08:29:28 PT:
Gateway Pundits
...& it's a bunch of GARBAGE. In this world, WHO ever heard of someone who "graduated" from MJ to things like heroin, meth, coke? It's so untrue that it defies one's imagination......and it's a very dangerous philosophy. Lumping marijuana with all other "drugs" means that treatment schemes are indiscriminate, do not identify the peculiar characteristics of one's psychology, and in fact encourage people to see all drugs as having the same effect. Very few of the people I have known or talked to went on to take meth, coke, or heroin. Almost never, and if they did it was simply to "try it." Addiction is not something you can just generalize about, and they know it. The results of drug use are things that one should always be educated and informed about, and the gateway theory is just sheer misinformation.--rchandar
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Comment #2 posted by NikoKun on May 29, 2009 at 07:55:45 PT
Good
This is one of the last arguments that prohibitionists have to stand on.
Lets tear it down!
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 29, 2009 at 06:36:38 PT
NY: Medical Marijuana Bill Moves Forward in Senate
May 26, 2009
  The Senate Health Committee approved legislation today that would legalize marijuana for medical use. But the bill still has to go through the Senate Codes Committee before getting to the floor for a vote. If passed, seriously ill patients would be able to have up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 mature plants. It has been used to relieve nausea, increase appetite, reduce muscle spasms and reduce chronic pain in patients with debilitating illnesses.  This is the first year the legislation has a chance of passing the Assembly and Senate. The Assembly has passed bills before, but this is the first time identical bills have the support of the political party in control in both houses. Democrats have long controlled the Assembly, but the last time Democrats were in charge of the Senate before this year was 1965.   Senate Health Committee Chairman Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan, said the committee received a memorandum in support of the legislation from the Medical Society of the State of New York. It has received memos in opposition from the state Conservative Party, the Drug-Free Schools Coalition in New York and the New York Society of Addiction Medicine.  The medical marijuana legislation in the Assembly was reported by the Health Committee and now sits in the Codes Committee. It is not on the latter committee’s meeting agenda for tomorrow.Copyright: 2009 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc.URL: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2009/05/26/medical-marijuana-bill-moves-forward-in-senate/
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