Marijuana Study Counters 'Gateway' Theory

Marijuana Study Counters 'Gateway' Theory

Here's some good stuff. Though I'm not really sure why this study needed to be conducted. Only people on Big Pharm's payroll or are spokespersons for some police lobby still say that marijuana is a gateway drug, but hey more science is always welcome.

Basically it turns out that kids smoke pot because they are predisposed to do it. They may end up doing other drugs because they are mentally predisposed to try them.

For example, kids who use marijuana because they are bored are more likely to also use coc aine, while kids using pot to achieve insight or understanding are more likely to try magic mushrooms, according to findings published recently in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

"We found that marijuana use within itself wasn't a risk factor for use of other drugs," said lead author Joseph Palamar, an assistant professor in the New York University Langone Medical Center's department of population health. "People do generally use marijuana before other drugs, but that doesn't mean marijuana is a cause of [using] those other drugs."

See. Also this:

"Most teens who use marijuana don't progress to use of other drugs, and we believe this is evidenced in part by the fact that nearly two-thirds of these marijuana-using teens did not report use of any of the other illicit drugs we examined," he noted.

These results show that educators and counselors would do better to prevent drug use if they focus on the reasons that students give for trying illicit substances, Palamar concluded.

"We need to address the reasons why people use, the drives that lead people to use," he said. "The majority of adults in the U.S. have at least tried marijuana, and we know the majority has never gone on to use another drug, yet we tend to treat all drug use as pathological."

Wait, LISTEN to our kids? What kind of dystopia are they trying to push on us? We are supposed to just determine what kids want without their input whatsoever dammit! /sarc

"Science has consistently shown that environmental factors, such as ready access to other illicit substances, and personal traits, such as a propensity toward risk-seeking behavior, are associated with the decision to move from marijuana to other illicit substances," Armentano said. "But marijuana's drug chemistry likely does not play a significant role, if any role, in this decision. "

Science, just ruining every Authoritarian's fun.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Honestly, no matter how obvious the findings are, this stuff NEEDS to come out for those who either are ill informed on the matter, or intellectually dishonest.

I say keep on pumping out these simplistic studies for those who have a difficult time overcoming their preconceived notions.

There is never anything wrong with more education. S&F

a reply to: Ghost147

That's why I posted the thread. Reading ATS has made me reconsider what I should be considering "obvious information".

Marijuana is no more a gateway drug than video game killing is a gateway to real world killing. Pretty much all of my friends who smoke pot ONLY smoke pot, they don't branch out to more hardcore stuff like coc aine or heroine. The idea is only there to discourage smoking a plant that has shown time and time again to have very positive effects on the user.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

Exactly. If anything the TRUE gateway drugs are either alcohol or tobacco. People always start with those first anyways.

I always thought the gateway drug thing was just stupid. if anything is the gateway drug its beer lmao.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Good to know! But this doesn't surprise me. From what I've read, cannabis has rather unique properties (for want of a better word) and does not function or affect us like other psychoactive plants, so I wouldn't expect it to "lead to" any other plants.

I just wish I had seen it and posted it before you... nothing personal of course... it's just that the first flag would have given me 420 flags and that would have been kinda cool and appropriate!

a reply to: Boadicea

But you have 420 flags now lol.

Of course marijuana is a gateway drug. Its just the gateway does not lead to coc aine, crack, heroine, and meth. The gateway leads to Cheetos, Doritos, donuts, and sleepy time.

It is a gateway drug, but not in the sense that the drug does it.

People take Marijuana, they got high, they like it. Some people like the high and want to go to the next level. That is when other drugs start coming in.

It's not in the sense that the drug does it, it's just indirectly influences you to do it and want it. Of course not everyone who smokes weed runs off and does other drugs. It's all how who the person is and how they are mentally. But it would be the same thing if someone took a different drug.

So actually, ALL drugs are gateway drugs. Most people who take a drug will want to experience the next level of a high. So they run off and take other drugs. Though there are some drugs that actually affect your mind in negative ways and give you the sensation of want. The reason why people point at Marijuana directly are cause of misinformation or other BS reasons.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Boadicea

But you have 420 flags now lol.

Yeah, cause I posted another thread and it got a flag before a posted to yours.

However, it is kinda cool that I my post here showed the 420 count at first! I'll just have to be happy with that I guess.

a reply to: Kuroodo

Yea, that's the way I'd see it as well. People start off wherever they do, but when they decide to partake in something illegal and frisky, well they're now passed the "don't ever" bit, and perhaps will choose other delights to partake in.

Definitely doesn't have to be marijuana, but that is the most common illegally used substance.

What sucks is you can have that one thing you can't stop, but it takes that first time or so to get there. So you could be a-okay with substance a, then b, or c down the road gets you hooked. Ah well, people do what they will. I don't really see how locking them up does much good for society.

The whole drug debate is totally out of kilter. The authorities don't even listen to the experts and scientists, who prove in every study that marijuana is nowhere near as dangerous as Alcohol or tobacco I was introduced to both before I tried pot, both much more addictive and kill millions around the world every year. So the authorities aren't really concerned with drugs as a public health issue. So what is their concern about pot?

What I find even funnier is we have had 3 presidents in a row (over the last 25 years!!!) that were confirmed pot smokers! Yet its still a federal taboo on what stance too take....at least the ball is moving...albeit at a snails pace.

I have a feeling it will never be completely legal to buy/sell in "all" the states in 50 years time, but it will probably be the equivalent to having to drive from a dry county to a wet one or something.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

Exactly. If anything the TRUE gateway drugs are either alcohol or tobacco. People always start with those first anyways.

I would add white sugar as a gateway to overweightness from eating to many sweets.

a reply to: ZeussusZ

my experiences have been the exact opposite.

the people i know kinda get an attitude when asked about other/harder stuff.