Study Contends Cannabis Isn't a Major 'Gateway Drug'

SilverHaze

A new report casts doubt on the argument that marijuana is a "gateway drug" that plays a major role in leading people to try other illegal drugs.

Researchers found that other factors, such as ethnicity and stress levels, are more likely to predict whether young adults will use other illegal drugs.

Even unemployment appears to be more closely linked to harder illicit drug use than marijuana use, the study authors noted.

"Employment in young adulthood can protect people by 'closing' the marijuana gateway, so over-criminalizing youth marijuana use might create more serious problems if it interferes with later employment opportunities," study co-author Karen Van Gundy, an associate professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, said in a university news release.

The researchers based their findings on surveys of 1,286 young adults who attended Miami-area public schools in the 1990s.

Ethnicity was the best predictor of future illegal drug use, the study findings indicated, with whites the most likely to use the drugs, followed by Hispanics and then blacks.

The study findings are published in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

So does early use of marijuana play a role in boosting the likelihood of later drug use? It's unclear.

"This study really doesn't answer the question," said Dr. Richard D. Blondell, director of addictions research at the University at Buffalo (UB), who was not involved in the new study. "As the authors point out, there are a lot of factors at play here. There is no one single answer to why somebody develops addiction."

In a study published recently in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, Blondell and colleagues at UB reported that new research suggests that many people first get addicted to drugs while using prescription painkillers.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2010/09/03/study-contends-pot-isnt-a-major-gateway-drug.html

thebigbiffo

in before 'sure coffee is a gateway drug'

Murt10

I'm sure that I read of similar results some time ago from an Irish survey.

TPD

Holy common sense, Batman!

thebigbiffo

TPD wrote: »

Holy common sense, Batman!

it is ridiculous that a study is needed to point out anything that's common knowledge...just ask a couple of thousand people who know about the subject and...

oh yeah

bazmaiden

calpol was my gateway drug

once I had tasted that purple syrup I was hooked

Dravokivich

bazmaiden wrote: »

calpol was my gateway drug

once I had tasted that purple syrup I was hooked

Uniflu was the cause of my downfall...

sensibleken

well duh!

ShadowGal

bazmaiden wrote: »

calpol was my gateway drug

once I had tasted that purple syrup I was hooked

i was more of a drowsy Benylin kid myself ;-)

Cuddlesworth

Pure unadulterated heroin was my drug. After that I moved onto baby's tears. I want to move onto something better now, like letting murderers and rapists walk free. So I going to become a judge.

WindSock

You mean to say that 95% of people I know who have tried it aren't junkies?
Gosh, you think you know someone and they turn out to be perfectly normally functioning, well rounded individuals*









* To a reasonable degree.

Ash.J.Williams

thebigbiffo wrote: »

in before 'sure coffee is a gateway drug'

Funny our office "thought" we ran out of coffee for the machine yesterday....i have to say it was a tense moment akin to losing a bag of weed....i really thought some sh*t was gonna go down, until someone produced a bag of coffee they were hiding for such emergencies....riot averted

120_Minutes

"report on cannabis tells us something all rational and reasonable people already knew" shocker.

It'll take a few years but the taboos about this relatively harmless (yeah i said it, big whoop wanna fight about it?) drug will be broken down.


When that day comes I'll be sparking a fat one.


Edit: I take it back, cannabis is a gateway drug..... to the friggin' munchies!

mikom

bazmaiden wrote: »

calpol was my gateway drug

once I had tasted that purple syrup I was hooked

Dravokivich wrote: »

Uniflu was the cause of my downfall...

ShadowGal wrote: »

i was more of a drowsy Benylin kid myself ;-)

Gripe water/

Stercus Accidit

Cannabis is crap anyway.

ShadowGal

mikom wrote: »

Gripe water/

they just made gripe water taste so damn good :cool:

120_Minutes

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Cannabis is crap anyway.

Oh how wrong you are...

saywhatyousee

i like your name op super sliver haze always knock my socks off!!!

ScumLord

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Cannabis is crap anyway.

I assume by crap you mean the shit, as in the American "awesome" like sense of the word.

stbrennan

ffs look at Amsterdamn.
They built legoland.
LEGOLAND!!
What did we build?.....

Thats right! We built the spire. We even contructed it like lego. Piece on another piece on another piece.

They built a land....we built a stick.
You do the math!





coz I'm too baked...

Rented Mule

...and a Boards.ie poll brought it to you first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, etc. .....

biko

Eh?

Q: So does early use of marijuana play a role in boosting the likelihood of later drug use?

A: "This study really doesn't answer the question," "As the authors point out, there are a lot of factors at play here. There is no one single answer to why somebody develops addiction."

So it doesn't really contend it?

funkyjebus

this is only news to anyone who has never used it. ie the people against it.

funkyjebus

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Cannabis is crap anyway.

wrong cannabis is grrrreeeeaat.

nothing like a spliff in the morning.

Stercus Accidit

120_Minutes wrote: »

Oh how wrong you are...

Do go on, you were just about to back up your post when...

HeadPig

Alcohol, IMO, is the biggest gateway drug out there.

starbelgrade

A gateway to what exactly?

Cue - Ray Mazerack waffling on about "opening the doors of perception, maaan".

AKA pat sheen

biko wrote: »

Eh?

Q: So does early use of marijuana play a role in boosting the likelihood of later drug use?

A: "This study really doesn't answer the question," "As the authors point out, there are a lot of factors at play here. There is no one single answer to why somebody develops addiction."

So it doesn't really contend it?

A:"This study really doesn't answer the question," said Dr. Richard D. Blondell, director of addictions research at the University at Buffalo (UB), who was not involved in the new study. "As the authors point out, there are a lot of factors at play here. There is no one single answer to why somebody develops addiction."

recylingbin

I smoked hash once*, Now I'm on crack.
How do you explain that?



























































*I didn't inhale.

120_Minutes

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Do go on, you were just about to back up your post when...

Maybe a more accurate post would be "cannabis is crap....for me" or perhaps you could share with us your reasons for saying it's crap before I back my post up?

henryporter

But didn't Mary Harney once say 'soft drugs lead to hard drugs lead to death'? At which point someone pointed out that obesity could also kill ya

BrockSamson

Originally Posted by Stercus Accidit
Cannabis is crap anyway.

The reason you think cannabis is crap is the stuff your getting of Irish dealers is called soap bar and should not be confused with cannabis


The main reason for me weed should be legalised is to stop contaminated weed being sold by Irish gangs


alot of smokers find to hard to tell the difference



http://www.gritweed.co.uk/gritweed.htm

120_Minutes

BrockSamson wrote: »

Excellent name sir.


There is of course one surefire way of not funding criminal gangs and making sure you get great weed...

mikom

henryporter wrote: »

But didn't Mary Harney once say 'soft drugs lead to hard drugs lead to death'? At which point someone pointed out that obesity could also kill ya

No what she actually said was .... 'freddo's lead to dairymilk's lead to nyom, nyom, nyom '

Ash.J.Williams

starbelgrade wrote: »

A gateway to what exactly?

Cue - Ray Mazerack waffling on about "opening the doors of perception, maaan".

gateway to a multipack of tayto for me now anyway

flas

stbrennan wrote: »

ffs look at Amsterdamn.
They built legoland.
LEGOLAND!!
What did we build?.....

Thats right! We built the spire. We even contructed it like lego. Piece on another piece on another piece.

They built a land....we built a stick.
You do the math!





coz I'm too baked...

legoland is in denmark!

120_Minutes

flas wrote: »

legoland is in denmark!

Dutch contractors

mikom

flas wrote: »

legoland is in denmark!

He's gonna shit a brick when he finds out he was wrong.

Ash.J.Williams

They knock together a decent windmill though...their dykes are deadly too...

flas

in saying that there is a district in copenhagen where its basically turned a blind eye to smoking and stuff,has a real hippy bohemian feel to the place and keeps some of the scummers occupied over there, when the government had a crack down on this place a few years ago the crime in the city sky rocketed,literally figures kept doubling and so after much relenting they decided to go back to ways of old and turn a blind eye! so in essence we find out that smoking actually lowers crime!*










*kinda

Mr Benevolent

Not enough Joe Duffy types on this thread. We need more uninformed debate.

ddef

I wouldnt call it a gateway drug in terms that it will lead on to hard drugs like coke or gear. however, i have done both weed and MDMA and I seriously doubt I would have tried MDMA without first experimenting with weed.




btw, both are fookin deadly!

pleasureman

The whole "gateway drug" argument is a red herring.
While it is true that the majority of those who end up using hard drugs have tried cannabis in one of its various forms; cannabis does not have any special properties which make the user crave or need other drugs.

So why is there this pattern of "soft" to "hard" drug use? Mainly for the following reasons:
- Those who try an illegal drug in the first place have a curious/experimental nature, therefore will desire to experience many mind altering substances, generally starting with those perceived to be least harmful ie alcohol, cannabis.

-Due to its illegal nature, a person who uses cannabis will come into contact with people who supply other illegal substances, thereby increasing likelyhood of experimenting with those substances.

-In my opinion the most influencing factor to cannabis' apparent gateway effect is that..
prior to ever having tried cannabis the overiding message/information available particularly from official and institutional sources is that (illegal)drugs are DRUGS, all bad, and all if used will almost definitely lead to ruination of character, health, sanity and life.
What happens when an experimental minded person tries cannabis is that they find this official message to be blatantly untrue (in the vast majority of cases, of course there are exceptions). Which leads to a suspicion that perhaps this message is only propaganda (which essentially it is!) resulting in the assumption that it may well be untrue for other illegal substances, resulting in further experimentation.

Education of the true effects rather than only telling our youth the worst that can possibly happen is the best possible way to eliminate this pseudo gateway effect that the RELATIVELY harmless drug cannabis has on the general user.

King Felix

pleasureman wrote: »

The whole "gateway drug" argument is a red herring.
.

It's not a red herring. It's a cod.

FlutterinBantam

Some stoner puts this stuff out.

And people get worked up.

Weedheads never contribute to anything much, except to the HSE bill.


Rooooight maaaaan.

mikom

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Some stoner puts this stuff out.

And people get worked up.

Weedheads never contribute to anything much, except to the HSE bill.


Rooooight maaaaan.

Ten heavy cannabis users. (non tobacco mixers)
Ten heavy alcohol users.
Who adds more to the HSE bill.

Pete M.

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Weedheads never contribute to anything much, except to the HSE bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J10w3FuCwfQ

King Felix

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Some stoner puts this stuff out.

And people get worked up.

Weedheads never contribute to anything much, except to the HSE bill.


Rooooight maaaaan.

You may be interested to know that Medical Marijuana is prescribed for digestive tract problems, constipation, diarrhea and IBS, amongst other things.

It may help with the scutters you've been having.

pleasureman

King Felix wrote: »

It's not a red herring. It's a cod.

I like it.. That was clever.

pleasureman

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Some stoner puts this stuff out.

And people get worked up.

Weedheads never contribute to anything much, except to the HSE bill.

Hmmmm,
What do you mean by a Weedhead?

amacachi

pleasureman wrote: »

Hmmmm,
What do you mean by a Weedhead?

I assume they were watching Garth Marenghi's Darkplace recently.