The "Gateway" Theory

[zackF.]

Who here believes that marijuana is a "gateway" drug? Personally I don't think that weed is a gateway drug. When I smoke weed, I just like getting high. When I snorted cocaine, weed didn't make me want to I just did. When I take/snort xanax, soma, hydrocodone, etc. weed had nothing to do with it. By the end of the summer, I plan on taking ecstasy, shrooms, and maybe LSD (still haven't decided). My smoking pot hasn't driven me toward any of these decisions. I just want to try them my on my own. It is like I heard on a documentary that this guy drinks alcohol and he said that it could be said he started on milk(which would make milk a "Gateway Drug") and that none of this mess about this theory makes any sense. It was on The Union: The Business Behind Getting High.

[Φρανκομβριτ]

I believe the basis of this theory comes from the fact that the first "drug" msot people try is weed. Honestly, if people did meth and then moved on to weed, it'd be the gateway drug

[Master_Miyagi]

I believe the basis of this theory comes from the fact that the first "drug" msot people try is weed. Honestly, if people did meth and then moved on to weed, it'd be the gateway drug


...yup

EDIT: and probably because it's the first drug that is beaten into your head... (im not sure about where you guys live) but in elementary school, i was always told about weed, and was always told not to do it, and all the effects of it (like D.A.R.E. if any of you guys have that) and yadda yadda... ever think that's why kids try it at such an early age?

[zackF.]

By the way, here is just a statistic I forgot about on the documentary... Only 1 out of 104 Marijuana users uses Cocaine and less than 1 out of 104 Marijuana users uses Heroin. (Not sure if this statistic is habitual use and one time use, I would guess both)

[Oblivion]

a) It adds connections to drugs, b) it adds accessibility to drugs, c) it creates the need for something stronger and d) it makes people think more that "drugs are OK".
Regardless of if you know it or not, doing weed could possibly be a subconscious reason for going to cocaine.

[zackF.]

Regardless of if you know it or not, doing weed could possibly be a subconscious reason for going to cocaine.

To bad there is no "inherent psychopharmacological property of cannabis that pushes one towards another drug"... By saying one using pot is going to use meth or coke or heroin is just stupid because a human being has the choice of what goes into their own body... By my marijuana use why does it make me a candidate for using black tar heroin... it's a nonsensical argument... My marijuana use did not have any affect on my choice of trying cocaine,(The night I used cocaine, I took a line then smoked a blunt, then got drunk and took another line) anything could be a gateway drug, like coffee, I drink coffee now I drink Red Bull which are both more likely to kill me than marijuana would due to it's LD50

[Sage]

... By saying one using pot is going to use meth or coke or heroin

No one's saying it will make you do stronger drugs, it will just make you more likely to.

[sebbie]

a) It adds connections to drugs, b) it adds accessibility to drugs, c) it creates the need for something stronger and d) it makes people think more that "drugs are OK".
Regardless of if you know it or not, doing weed could possibly be a subconscious reason for going to cocaine.

I agree with this.

My own past experiences fit with this.

[WEO]

a) It adds connections to drugs, b) it adds accessibility to drugs, c) it creates the need for something stronger and d) it makes people think more that "drugs are OK".
Regardless of if you know it or not, doing weed could possibly be a subconscious reason for going to cocaine.

and there we have another one of the hundreds of reasons marijuana should be made legal..

oh and it doesnt create the need for something stronger.? that could be said about anything then!

To the original poster: I wouldn't recommend that you do ecstasy...that one you should do yourself a favour and stay away from!

[Sage]

and there we have another one of the hundreds of reasons marijuana should be made legal..

Sarcasm?

While it might partly be a gateway drug for some, it would be a gateway drug for far fewer if it were legalized. This would get rid of association with gangs and some accessibility to other drugs.

Though in my opinion all drugs should be legal, but that's a seperate topic altogether.

[INFERNO]

By the way, here is just a statistic I forgot about on the documentary... Only 1 out of 104 Marijuana users uses Cocaine and less than 1 out of 104 Marijuana users uses Heroin. (Not sure if this statistic is habitual use and one time use, I would guess both)

Source for this?

To bad there is no "inherent psychopharmacological property of cannabis that pushes one towards another drug"... By saying one using pot is going to use meth or coke or heroin is just stupid because a human being has the choice of what goes into their own body... By my marijuana use why does it make me a candidate for using black tar heroin... it's a nonsensical argument... My marijuana use did not have any affect on my choice of trying cocaine,(The night I used cocaine, I took a line then smoked a blunt, then got drunk and took another line) anything could be a gateway drug, like coffee, I drink coffee now I drink Red Bull which are both more likely to kill me than marijuana would due to it's LD50

Seeing as how you mentioned LD50 and some other terms, I'm guessing you've taken a course or done research in pharmacology. The mesolimbic dopamine pathway/system among other areas gets "activated" when one does a drug such as marijuana. If people want to re-experience their high, then that makes them more likely to do more marijuana and/or other drugs, which is kindly shown by your personal experiences of pumping damn near everything except the kitchen sink into yourself.

However, that being said, the idea that marijuana makes you or is a gateway for more drugs I find to be silly. Yes it can make you more likely but then again, so could doing other drugs. My guess for why marijuana got the lovely label of a gateway drug is a combination of it being one of the less harmful drugs, people who do it tend to do other drugs, many people do it and other drugs and it's probably easy to get. Those arguments, most of them are flawed but I suspect those are some of the reasons.

If people went about and drank gallons of beer then hopped onto meth or ecstasy or whatever else, then this gateway idea could be slapped onto beer.

The important thing to note that our trusty media almost always seems unable to handle properly, and yes I do think the media is one reason why people view marijuana as a gateway drug, is that the statistics show correlations. Correlations have a directionality problem among other issues. The media doesn't always seem to handle the differences of correlations and causations properly.

BTW, zackF, if you are indeed doing them, then you should try to get off the boatload of drugs you're pumping yourself up with. Although it's your decision completely, take the advice or leave it, makes no difference to me.

[Toilet Water.]

Who here believes that marijuana is a "gateway" drug? Personally I don't think that weed is a gateway drug. When I smoke weed, I just like getting high. When I snorted cocaine, weed didn't make me want to I just did. When I take/snort xanax, soma, hydrocodone, etc. weed had nothing to do with it. By the end of the summer, I plan on taking ecstasy, shrooms, and maybe LSD (still haven't decided). My smoking pot hasn't driven me toward any of these decisions. I just want to try them my on my own. It is like I heard on a documentary that this guy drinks alcohol and he said that it could be said he started on milk(which would make milk a "Gateway Drug") and that none of this mess about this theory makes any sense. It was on The Union: The Business Behind Getting High.

I don't believe Marijuana is a gateway drug.

1/104 Marijuana users have used Cocaine, and less than 1/104 Marijuana users have used Heroin.

If Marijuana was a gateway drug, don't you think a lot more people would use other drugs?

The Gateway Theory is just like saying water is a gateway. I drank water, now I'm drinking milk. Which led me to hot chocolate. Now I'm drinking coffee. Coffee led me to alcohol. I smoked a cigerette while drunk. smoking caused me to haze. I did weed, (now I'm addicted to Heroin. [which is not true])
The Gateway Theory is absolutely ridiculous, in my opinion.

If Marijuana was legal, people wouldn't think illegal drugs were okay. Other drugs would also be less available, if Marijuana was made legal.

[damn almonds]

Who here believes that marijuana is a "gateway" drug? Personally I don't think that weed is a gateway drug. When I smoke weed, I just like getting high. When I snorted cocaine, weed didn't make me want to I just did. When I take/snort xanax, soma, hydrocodone, etc. weed had nothing to do with it. By the end of the summer, I plan on taking ecstasy, shrooms, and maybe LSD (still haven't decided). My smoking pot hasn't driven me toward any of these decisions. I just want to try them my on my own. It is like I heard on a documentary that this guy drinks alcohol and he said that it could be said he started on milk(which would make milk a "Gateway Drug") and that none of this mess about this theory makes any sense. It was on The Union: The Business Behind Getting High.

so u like to get high a lot and u do illigal drugs?????


hmmmmm..... im staying away from u

[JunkBondTrader]

I think with the whole gateway theory one has to just look at why people use drugs in the first place. I smoked hash for the first time when I was 12 and, truthfully, I was absolutely determined to do it as stupid as it sounds. As it turns out I don't care for cannabis much but for the last couple of years I've used a couple of drugs but mainly just been drinking and smoking a lot. I take what I want to take.

People consider cannabis to be a harder drug than alcohol (whether or not this is the truth) but in my experience I smoked cannabis first and then turned to alcohol which is at least considered more socially acceptable. But this could simply be becuase of my usually unpleasant reaction to cannabis.

At the end of the day people take what they want to take. I wanted to smoke cannabis and I had some because its more available to a 12 year old than alcohol is. It's all about people trying to get the buzz and feel good. If someone is willing to smoke cannabis then they may also be willing to snort cocaine, cannabis just comes along first. But there are many others who will never do anything else and they seem to be in the majority.

[Callwaiting]

To be honest I do believe that it is a gateway drug. As well as increasing accessibility to other illegal drugs through dealers (thanks anti-marijuana laws, you're really keeping kids safe) it also entices people to experience new thrills.

I know for sure that before I started smoking marijuana I never, ever wanted to try psilocybin mushrooms, but now that I know that not all mind-altering substances are evil, and that they can be downright incredible, it's made me want to experience it.
(thanks again anti-marijuana propaganda - when kids figure out the truth that weed isn't harmful, they logically assume that they've been lied to about other drugs too)

So yes, marijuana is a gateway drug.
But isn't it funny that it's directly caused by the government themselves..

[Bougainvillea]

I'm going to have to side with INFERNO on this one.

[zgrazier]

I don't believe Marijuana is a gateway drug.

1/104 Marijuana users have used Cocaine, and less than 1/104 Marijuana users have used Heroin.

If Marijuana was a gateway drug, don't you think a lot more people would use other drugs?

The Gateway Theory is just like saying water is a gateway. I drank water, now I'm drinking milk. Which led me to hot chocolate. Now I'm drinking coffee. Coffee led me to alcohol. I smoked a cigerette while drunk. smoking caused me to haze. I did weed, (now I'm addicted to Heroin. [which is not true])
The Gateway Theory is absolutely ridiculous, in my opinion.

If Marijuana was legal, people wouldn't think illegal drugs were okay. Other drugs would also be less available, if Marijuana was made legal.

I ABSOLUTELY AGREE.
couldnt have said it better myself.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Please don't bump old threads, this one is 3 months old.
:locked: