MrktMkr1986
The psychoactive drugs children use first are called "Gateway Drugs" because children learn to accept and embrace the "high". They learn drug-acquisition skills and drug-taking habits such as how to lie, cheat, sneak, steal, roll, plant etc... The use of any "Gateway Drug" is a strong predictor for future use of other drugs. Examples of gateway drugs:
- INHALANTS
- TOBACCO
- ALCOHOL
- MARIJUANA
Several studies have found that, if society can prevent an person from using any of the above until age 21, the chances are 93-7 that that person will not use illegal drugs or use alcohol in a high-risk manner. Young people don't just wake up one morning and decide to do a line of coke. Once a young person gives himself/herself permission to use ANY of the above, it is so much easier the next time to do the same, and the next time after that, and the next time, and the next time, and the next time, and the next time. <<< addiction must be a 🤬 ! All that repetition!
Study Says Marijuana Does Not Lead To Hard Drugs
Countering a basic principle of American anti-drug policies, an independent U.S. study concluded on Monday that marijuana use does not lead teenagers to experiment with hard drugs like heroin or cocaine.
The study by the private, nonprofit RAND Drug Policy Research Center rebutted the theory that marijuana acts as a so-called gateway drug to more harmful narcotics, a key argument against legalizing pot in the United States.
The researchers did not advocate easing restrictions in marijuana, but questioned the focus on this substance in drug control efforts.
Using data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse between 1982 and 1994, the study concluded teenagers who took hard drugs were predisposed to do so whether they tried marijuana first or not.
"Kids get their first opportunity to use marijuana years before they get their first exposure to hard drugs," said Andrew Morral, lead author of the RAND study.
"Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It's just the first thing kids often come across."
Morral said 50 percent of U.S. teenagers had access to marijuana by the age of 16, while the majority had no exposure to cocaine, heroin or hallucinogens until they were 20.
The study, published in the British journal Addiction, does not advocate legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, which has been linked to side-effects including short-term memory loss.
But given limited resources, Morral said the U.S. government should reconsider the prominence of marijuana in its much-publicized "war on drugs."
"To a certain extent we are diverting resources away from hard drug problems," he said. "Spending money on marijuana control may not be having downstream consequences on the use of hard drugs."
Researchers say predisposition to drug use has been linked to genetic factors and one's environment, including family dynamics and the availability of drugs in the neighborhood.
Source: Reuters