Marijuana may not be the gateway drug some think it is, study finds

[kpete]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Marijuana is thought by some to be a gateway drug among young people who eventually go on to try stronger substances. But that may be the exception rather than the rule, a new study finds.

Researchers from the University of New Hampshire looked at data from a random group of 1,286 children, teens and young adults who were in Miami-Dade public schools in the 1990s. Among the study participants, 26% were African American, 44% were Hispanic, and 30% were non-Hispanic white.

They were asked about their substance use and about exposure to major events and traumas that occurred before age 13. Some questions included, "Did you ever fail a grade at school?", "Did your parents ever divorce/separate?" and "Were you regularly emotionally abused by one of your caretakers?"

Education played a role in use of other substances--those more likely to have used marijuana as teens and other drugs as young adults didn't graduate from high school or go to college. Employment factored in as well, since those who smoked pot as teens and were out of work after high school were more apt to use other drugs.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-marijuana-20100902,0,7726432.story?track=rss

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"While marijuana use may serve as a gateway to other illicit drug use in adolescence, our results indicate that the effect may be short-lived, subsiding by age 21. Interestingly, age emerges as a protective status above and beyond the other life statuses and conditions considered here. We find that respondents 'age out' of marijuana's gateway effect regardless of early teen stress exposure or education, work, or family statuses," the researchers say.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100902073507.htm

Whether teenagers who smoked pot will use other illicit drugs as young adults has more to do with life factors such as employment status and stress, according to the new research. In fact, the strongest predictor of whether someone will use other illicit drugs is their race/ethnicity, not whether they ever used marijuana.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100902073507.htm

[Joanne98]

1. That was NEVER true and nobody EVER thought it was except RW liars and the clueless media!

[One Fly]

3. Thanks Joanne

For saying what I was going to. The same shit for years and years and even with a thousand articles like this and studies or what have you these bastards will still never discuss ending this third war front. I actually bought my first legal pot in Colorado a week or so ago. It was an interesting feeling but now can grow it and they can't do a thing!

[CLANG]

6. The real gateway drug: Mothers Milk!!!

:rofl:

[Uncle Joe]

10. Here you go.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8193821&mesg_id=8195597

[groovedaddy]

2. Pot's illegal status has more to do with exposure to other illegal drugs. That's just the nature of

the black market.

[comtec]

5. Exactly, it's the "If you liked that, try this" sort of thing

making it legal (sorry NOT illegal) here in Holland the harder drug use is significantly lower than in the US.

Literally, the only thing the reich wing here has is that it's immoral to use pot, and even then it's a weak argument.

Oh well, right wing whack jobs are the same everywhere.

[gulliver]

8. Exactly. If pot were legal, we would not have criminals...

...selling it right next to hard drugs. The drug laws force people who only want marijuana into contact with people who want to sell hard drugs. The drug laws drive kids to buy pot from people who are also eager to sell meth, heroine, and pills.

[comtec]

12. That is an inane and flawed argument, worthy of a freeper!

grats!

[EOTE]

13. How so?

Does the illegal nature of pot not cause those who seek it to be exposed to other more dangerous drugs? It seems to make sense to me. All the more reason to legalize it.

[comtec]

15. To say that anything will cause crime to go away is naive at best

The freepers look at things in black and white.
the world operates in rainbow shades across the spectrum.

some crime WILL go down, as things become legit. crimes related to acquiring said thing will evaporate (as it won't be illegal) and people wont be doing stupid things like flooring it when tehy see a cop.

Here you can simply stay in the coffee shops, or take it home, without worrying about looking over your shoulder or if your seller is a cop.

additionally there is revenue hat is never talked about around coffee shops, that is the supporting snack bars for people who are high, or just coming down.
The take away market in holland is very healthy.

does all crime associated with pot disappear? of course not, but the vast majority of that has nothing to do with the general public of buyers, but where the coffee shops get their supply from (technically, a coffee shop can only sell what it grows itself)

point being, you are looking at this as a black n white issue, which is something that should never be tolerated here at DU.

[EOTE]

19. Who is saying that crime will go away?

We're suggesting that by eliminating marijuana prohibition, crime will likely go down.

I think we agree on the issue. I certainly wouldn't mind if the U.S. took the Holland approach and created something like your Coffee shops.

I don't see how I'm looking at this in b&w.

[gulliver]

20. The ellipsis (...) means the sentence is continued in the body...

...of the post. I think you may think I am saying "If pot were legal, there would be no criminals." But the sentence actually ends in the body of the post, so the full sentence I wrote is "If pot were legal, there would be no criminals selling it right next to hard drugs." There would still be criminals, but there would not be any illicit pot dealers selling marijuana and hard drugs side by side.

Sorry for the confusion. Not my day on post titles!

[maxsolomon]

4. it was my gateway to experimentation

alcohol came before weed, but i TRIED hashish, nicotine, acid, mushrooms, quaaludes, speed, cocaine, and opium all after i smoked cannibus. so i suppose it was a gateway.

and after experimenting once or twice with these harder drugs, i stopped and walked back through the gate. my story is probably typical.

[drmeow]

7. If you tried alcohol first

then alcohol was your gateway to experimentation - even if you stopped all the other but still drink alcohol. One could argue that the first substance consumed in order alter consciousness is the gateway to all subsequent uses of mind/consciousness altering substances.

[Ramulux]

9. I love how they have to do a study

to disprove something that was never proven. How pathetic must these scientists feel knowing that they are doing research to disprove propaganda.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[mitchtv]

14. I started on apirin and cola

nt

[Initech]

16. I've never, not once thought to try anything else.

:smoke:

[Javaman]

17. It's the gateway drug to junk food.

:rofl:

Mmmm, Doritos...

[SalmonChantedEvening]

18. One of everything please.

[Kat45]

21. I always considered myself a poster child for it not being a gateway drug.

In my college days (and a bit after), I smoked a lot of pot. My senior year of college, I was stoned every single day (and I still graduated cum laude). I never ever touched another drug. I had friends who did all kinds of other drugs, and sometimes I was even with them when they did. I remember them bringing home a bunch of whippets in college, watching everyone do them, but I didn't touch one. Then in the eighties, everyone was doing a lot of coke. I've been in rooms with a pile of coke on the table. I went to parties that lasted all night long because everyone was doing coke all night long. I stayed up all night with them, which wasn't easy, but never touched the stuff. In these situations, friends would always say, "c'mon, do a line," and I didn't. The fact that I smoked pot did not cause me to want these other drugs. So I feel like I am proof that pot is not a gateway drug.