Marijuana Study Counters 'Gateway' Theory

originally posted by: RicketyCricket
Pot is a gateway drug because it is illegal.

The local dealer sells all sorts of # because dealer makes many on the black market.

Person goes to buy pot, but dealer doesn't have any more, so dealer turns person on to harder things. Starts out with psychedelics, then powders, then tars, etc.

Theoretically, if pot were not illegal, person would not have to visit illegal dealer, to buy illegal drug, only to be turned on to other illegal drugs.

Alcohol is legal, and person has to go to store to buy other legal items, instead of illegal items, as his reason for being there in the first place, was for a legal item.

Just my pov.

Flame away.

This isn't necessarily true either. There are many pot dealers who ONLY deal in pot and will even turn you away if you ask for other stuff. Many just try other drugs because they liked the high from one narcotic (any narcotic really) and want to know what others feel like. Basically curiosity, but this isn't everyone though. Most are content with their one vice of choice.

Consider this. Smarter people are more likely to use drugs. Intelligent people are generally considered to be very curious so that they can fuel their need for more information. Is it any surprise that they would self-experiment with drugs to get evidence of their own on what they do to you?

The study suggests that greater intelligence is associated with novelty seeking, "A possible pathway that emerges from the literature on personality is that high IQ individuals have also been shown to score highly on tests of stimulation seeking and openness to experience."

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Marijuana Study Counters 'Gateway' Theory

Here's some good stuff. Though I'm not really sure why this study needed to be conducted. Only people on Big Pharm's payroll or are spokespersons for some police lobby still say that marijuana is a gateway drug.

Is this for real or what??? I know marijuana has been linked to lower peoples IQ's but the lack of understanding in these stoner threads is pathetic.

Why would Big Pharma, who make money through people being unhealthy, be part of some conspiracy to outlaw marijuana? It doesn't make any sense.

When all you stoners get older and your suffering from mental illnesses such as paranoia & anxiety or physical illnesses such as heart disease and any number of respiratory problems through smoking, who do you think is going to benefit from that?

That's right, Big Pharma will be making a packet from you morons who think smoking this stuff is some sort of key to a long healthy life.

You're all complete and utter muppets!

Have a nice day.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Exactly. If anything the TRUE gateway drugs are either alcohol or tobacco. People always start with those first anyways.

It seems things are changing...

As example my sons ex-friend was a B student, great in sports, all round good guy. He went to live with his Grandma for 2 years and started to smoke pot since she does it. He is now F student, dropped out of all sports, has started to smoke cigarettes and lately is boasting that he steals liquor from the local Safe Way. Went from a popular guy to one that everyone now stays away from.

Sounds like there are some more issues going on there than just having started smoking pot. Many times the underlying reasons people take to smoking pot are due to undiagnosed mental illnesses.

a reply to: jamespond

Yes, it's for real. And YES big pharma is sponsoring anti-marijuana bills. Get updated on information buddy.

Leading Anti-Marijuana Academics Are Paid by Painkiller Drug Companies

VICE has found that many of the researchers who have advocated against legalizing pot have also been on the payroll of leading pharmaceutical firms with products that could be easily replaced by using marijuana. When these individuals have been quoted in the media, their drug-industry ties have not been revealed.

Take, for example, Dr. Herbert Kleber of Columbia University. Kleber has impeccable academic credentials, and has been quoted in the press and in academic publications warning against the use of marijuana, which he stresses may cause wide-ranging addiction and public health issues. But when he's writing anti-pot opinion pieces for CBS News, or being quoted by NPR and CNBC, what's left unsaid is that Kleber has served as a paid consultant to leading prescription drug companies, including Purdue Pharma (the maker of OxyContin), Reckitt Benckiser (the producer of a painkiller called Nurofen), and Alkermes (the producer of a powerful new opioid called Zohydro).

Kleber, who did not respond to a request for comment, maintains important influence over the pot debate. For instance, his writing has been cited by the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police in its opposition to marijuana legalization, and has been published by the American Psychiatric Association in the organization's statement warning against marijuana for medicinal uses.

But hey, keep on believing that stupid propaganda that marijuana is bad for you. You are only holding the rest of the country back from freedom to do as we please.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

The primary gateway drug is the ubiquitous and legal alcohol.

The recent shift in thought, regarding alcohol as the primary gateway drug, has been brought about by the concept that alcoholics are more likely to try other substances due to their addictive personality. Additionally, alcohol alters brain chemistry, which can lead to addiction to other drugs and alcohol. In 2009, the U.S. Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse reported that that nearly 70 percent of heavy alcohol users ages 12-17 were also illicit drug users.

It was also discovered in a similar study performed by the U.S. Department of Justice that 32 percent of young people who drank alcohol in the same 12-17 year old age bracket used also used marijuana. In the same study, it was discovered that 81 percent of those who smoked marijuana regularly also drank. While these statistics suggest that alcohol can be considered the primary gateway drug to harder drugs, there are some other questions to consider.

So far MJ has not been shown to be physiologically addicting and not very harmful. There is some concern that overuse can limit intelligence and cognition, but that could be simply an affect of those who do nothing but be stoned all the time aren't going to be learning anything by that very nature.

a reply to: NavyDoc

Yep, I agree. Though I didn't realize that studies had been conducted on this matter. It's nice that they agree with what I had suspected all along.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: NavyDoc

Yep, I agree. Though I didn't realize that studies had been conducted on this matter. It's nice that they agree with what I had suspected all along.

There was a big Australian study that demonstrated the lack of physiological addiction. I need to dig that up. I definitively saved it on one of my machines.

a reply to: NavyDoc

I mean, I know that studies have been conducted on the addictive properties of marijuana. I was more talking about whether alcohol is a gateway drug or not.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: NavyDoc

I mean, I know that studies have been conducted on the addictive properties of marijuana. I was more talking about whether alcohol is a gateway drug or not.

Oh, yes. Of course you are right. I was off on a tangent, sorry.

Yes, one thing is that this study has the weight that makes it significant--15,000 subjects per year is nothing to sneeze at.

You know what's the real gateway drug? Spinning around on the swings in the playground. Yeah, it starts out harmless enough with kids spinning around and getting dizzy and falling down and laughing. Next thing you know, though crystal meth.

a reply to: Krazysh0t
Marijuana was never the gateway drug, The WHO did the science on it and proved it was tobacco can't remember what year it was maybe around 79,

originally posted by: avgguy
a reply to: projectvxn

Here's my take on it. Jimmy buys pot from his dealer. Jimmy's dealer gets zanny bars and oxy. Jimmy now has access to those etc etc. so jimmy starting out with pot has just opened him up to more hardcore drugs that he now has easy access too.

I think all drugs should be legal. That's just the correlation I see from personal experience.

That's saying that dealing with someone who sells marijuana may be a "gateway choice" or something like that.

Not much to do with whether or not marijuana is a "gateway drug".....

The primary gateway drug is the ubiquitous and legal alcohol

That's the truth. With alcohol our judgment fades away more and more with each drink until its completely out of the picture. A person who can't handle their booze very well is prone to making all kinds of poor decisions, and possibly getting hooked on something hard along the way.

a reply to: jamespond

Proof, Source, that links Cannabis with all those probs you stated. I'm older, so what? Educate yourself. You're at the risk of showing your ignorance.

"The gateway effect, if it exists, has at least two potential and quite different sources (MacCoun, 1998). One interpretation is that it is an effect of the drug use itself (e.g., trying marijuana increases the taste for other drugs or leads users to believe that other substances are more pleasurable or less risky than previously supposed). A second interpretation stresses peer groups and social interactions. Acquiring and using marijuana regularly may lead to differentially associating with peers who have attitudes and behaviors that are prodrug generally, not only with respect to marijuana. One version of this is the possibility that those peers will include people who sell other drugs, reducing the difficulty of locating potential supplies. If the latter is the explanation, then legalization might reduce the likelihood of moving on to harder drugs compared to the current situation."

Source:

Source: Kilmer, Beau; Caulkins, Jonathan P.; Pacula, Rosalie Liccardo; MacCoun, Robert J.; Reuter, Peter H., "Altered State? Assessing How Marijuana Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets" Drug Policy Research Center (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2010), p. 42

a reply to: jamespond

(Lung Cancer Risk from Cannabis Use) "Despite these findings, the small number of observational studies fail to demonstrate a clear association between marijuana smoking and diagnoses of lung cancer. Therefore, we must conclude that no convincing evidence exists for an association between marijuana smoking and lung cancer based on existing data. Nonetheless, certain logistic properties of marijuana smoking may increase the risk of carcinogenic exposure compared with conventional tobacco smoking, raising questions as to why observational studies have not demonstrated an association with lung cancer."
Go have a beer right?
Source:
Mehra, Reena; Moore, Brent A.; Crothers, Kristina; Tetrault, Jeanette; Fiellin, David A., "The Association Between Marijuana Smoking and Lung Cancer: A Systemic Review," Archives of Internal Medicine, (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, July 10, 2006), Vol. 166, p. 1365.
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