Druutopia

Marijuana is not the Gateway Drug

Ξ September 7th, 2007 | → 5 Comments | ∇ History |

The myth of the gateway drug has been determined not by statistics that are incorrect but by the wrong statistics. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, in cooperation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the White House Office of Drug Control Policy released the “Gateway Drug” theory as a campaign against Marijuana. They state that marijuana users are 85 times more likely than non-marijuana users to try cocaine. We need to look at how they came up with this Statistic.

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse taken in 1991 is useless when it comes to the statistic on Marijuana users likelihood of using “Hard” drugs. It was calculated by dividing the proportion of marijuana users who have ever used cocaine (17%) by the proportion of cocaine users who have never used marijuana (.2%). The high risk-factor obtained is a product not of the fact that so many marijuana users use cocaine but that so many cocaine users used marijuana previously.

When you think about it, Marijuana is the most common illicit drug for many decades so chances are that a user of a less popular drug has tried a more popular drug. This goes for even more popular drugs as well, for example most cocaine users also smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.

Now my opinion on legalization of marijuana will also cut down on use of other drugs. I do believe that there are a lot of users that started off with Marijuana and because of the way they have to go about getting marijuana they come in contact with hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. Because of my stance on Marijuana but do not have experience with it illegally I have talked to a few people in the Marijuana crowd. I have heard certain things that encourage my belief that legalization of the substance.

I was talking to a Marijuana dealer. He was explaining to me that he loves dealing with marijuana because he has never had to deal with weapons when taking the product to his customers. He does however deal with other substances where weapons were required and shown as a threat. When he is dealing with customers of the other substances he is always worried about it “going bad” He also told me that when ever he deals with his marijuana customers he offers them the high profit drugs. If a marijuana user was able to buy this substance legally they would not be put in the situation that they are being offered harder drugs.

The Gateway Drug - Blame the Right Drug

Ξ September 7th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ History |

The other day I was listening to a speach that a mother was giving about her son in his early twenties that overdosed on Heroin. It is a very upsetting situation and I strongly believe that no parent should out live their children. On the other hand she said one thing that after I thought about it I got kind of upset. During her speach about keeping Marijuana illegal, She said, “Marijuana is the gateway drug, My son started smoking cigarette’s then drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and it was all down hill from there.” Now the reason this upset me is because out of the three drugs she mentioned and the drugs that her son was known to take and eventually overdosed on Marijuana was the safest one. Then I started thinking about it even more. At what point does she consider the Gateway? Was she worried about her son when he started smoking cigarettes? That was the gateway from not having an addiction to having an addiction. His life was the same but he added the addiction to it.How about when he moved from cigarettes to Drinking Alcohol? Her son went though the gateway of reality to an escape from reality. Now if you follow the path she is saying her son took the next step was no change just a different way of getting to where he wanted to. He was dealing with an addiction by smoking cigarettes, he went on to drinking alcohol to escape reality and forget about his worries. After that he went to smoking Marijuana, The least addictive drug including Nicotine and Alcohol. Marijuana also gives you a relief from reality but nothing more than alcohol, (and you have to remember your actions the next day). So here she is talking about Marijuana being the Gateway drug but that seams like the only step her son has taken that didn’t change the effects he was receiving from his drugs at the time. I believe you can say that Tobacco or Alcohol were the Gateway drugs. I feel sorry for this woman that she has dealt with the pain of losing her child and my thoughts and prayers reach out to her, but please Blame the Right Drug.