Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Biden Says Marijuana Might Be A Gateway Drug [View all]JonLP24
(29,322 posts)It says "may" be a link. It was government that made marijuana a schedule I drug so perhaps they are behind the times?
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These findings are consistent with the idea of marijuana as a "gateway drug." However, the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, "harder" substances. Also, cross-sensitization is not unique to marijuana. Alcohol and nicotine also prime the brain for a heightened response to other drugs52 and are, like marijuana, also typically used before a person progresses to other, more harmful substances.
It is important to note that other factors besides biological mechanisms, such as a persons social environment, are also critical in a persons risk for drug use. An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances such as marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with others who use drugs increases their chances of trying other drugs. Further research is needed to explore this question.
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/marijuana-gateway-drug
Research simply does not support the theory that
marijuana is a gateway drug that is, one whose use
results in an increased likelihood of using more
serious drugs such as cocaine and heroin. However,
this flawed gateway effect is one of the principal
reasons cited in defense of laws prohibiting the use or
possession of marijuana. *cough* Joe Biden *cough*
Research shows that marijuana could more
accurately be described as a terminus drug
because the vast majority of people who use
marijuana do not go on to use other illicit drugs.1,2
Marijuana has never been proven to have an actual
gateway effect.3 However, a more critical interpretation
of this and further research suggests that those who use
drugs may instead have an underlying propensity to do
so that is not specific to any one drug.4,5,6
Significant amounts of research as well as measures
implemented in other countries suggest that there are
far more effective and less harmful strategies for
decreasing youth use of marijuana and reducing the
potential harms of other illicit drug use than using the
gateway myth as a scare tactic. New evidence
suggests that marijuana can even serve as an exit
drug, helping people to reduce or eliminate their use
of more harmful drugs such as opiates or alcohol by
easing withdrawal symptoms.
https://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/DebunkingGatewayMyth_NY_0.pdf
Marijuana continues to be the most commonly used illicit drug according to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report. It is also the third most popular recreational drug in the United States, behind alcohol and tobacco. Based on the latest estimates, upwards of 24 million people have used marijuana, with 14 million using it regularly, yet misinformation about marijuana abounds.
Marijuana is not a gateway drug. People who have tried marijuana may eventually go on to try harder drugs in search of a stronger high, and experimentation may lead them down a dangerous path toward addiction. However, the science shows overwhelmingly that for most people marijuana is not a gateway drug.
Many people mistakenly believe that marijuana use precedes rather than follows initiation of other illicit drug use. In fact, most drug use begins with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana, making nicotine and alcohol the two most common drugs of abuse. Evidence indicates marijuana is usually not the first substance abused before more dangerous illicit drug experimentation.
A study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of School Health has concluded that the theory of a gateway drug is not associated with marijuana, but rather one of the most damaging and socially accepted drugs in the world, alcohol. The findings from this investigation support that alcohol should receive primary attention in abuse prevention programming, since the use of other substances could be impacted by delaying or preventing alcohol use.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ending-addiction-good/201408/marijuana-the-gateway-drug-myth
Alcohol was my first drug followed by nicotine.
Marijuana is not, repeat, a Gateway drug
Most of the research linking marijuana to harder drug use comes from the correlation between the two. However, as any junior scientist can tell you, correlation does not mean causation.
Correlation is a first step. A correlation can be positive or negative; it can be weak or strong. And it never means a cause unless a rational reason for causality is found.
The brain disease model, which describes changes in the brain during the progression from drug use to addiction, currently gets a lot of attention as a potential causal link of the gateway theory. For example, in a 2014 article, neuroscientist Dr Jodi Gilman reported that even a little marijuana use was associated with "exposure-dependent alterations of the neural matrix of core reward systems" in the brains of young marijuana users. The reasoning goes that this would predispose them to use other drugs.
But other researchers were quick to point out the flaws of the Gilman study, such as a lack of careful controls for alcohol and other drug use by those whose brains were studied. Nonetheless, Dr Gilman's research continues to be cited in the news media, while its critics are ignored.
In another study supporting the gateway theory, the authors admit to limitations in their study: that they excluded younger cocaine users from the analysis, as well as older cocaine users who had never used marijuana. This means that those cases that might provide evidence of no gateway effect were left out of the analysis.
https://www.newsweek.com/marijuana-not-gateway-drug-325358
I will post more.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided