Does anyone think marijuana is a "gateway" drug?
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faye (
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November 6th, 2009
I’ve just been doing some reading.
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45 Answers
I think it’s just a drug. They’re all the same to me. People without enough intestinal fortitude to make it through life without “assistance” are usually no friends of mine.
Not really.
Friends are. If you want your kids to avoid drugs you should block their ability to have friends.
Alcohol, adderall, ritalin, and meds kids pilfer from the family liquor/ medicine cabinet are the real gateway drugs.
I think it certainly can be for some. I know plenty of people who do no drugs beyond alcohol and weed and it’s been that way for a couple years. I know others who started smoking weed and after that tried ecstasy and LSD. I know a group of potheads at my school who were discussing trying salvia and even planning on how to get it; I don’t think they ever did, though. So, it depends. As for me, I haven’t even done weed yet and don’t plan on it.
The majority of people who do serious drugs smoked marijuana first. But the majority of people who smoke marijuana do not move on to more serious drugs.
No, absolutely not. I used to smoke pot every so often. It relaxed me, made me content, and made me really, really hungry. The one thing it didn’t do was make me want to move on to harder drugs.
Yes I do see it as a gateway drug. I was raised in the 70’s and I see people that smoked pot as teenagers still smoking pot, doing coke, and into meth 30 years later. I have no source, only looking at the people at my high school reunion.
Most people who use drugs experimented with different drugs within a 2–3 year time frame. Pot just happens to be available and pretty safe so more people try it. I never wanted to try cocaine because I smoked pot. I was curious as to what the coke hype and buzz all about. I probably would have tried cocaine out of curiousity even if I had never smoked pot. I no longer do coke though because it makes you depressed.
Salvia is not really a harmful drug. I took both marijuana and salvia. I am not craving for more. I am not addicted nor am i against taking it again. But i have no interest in doing any hard core drugs.
Anyone with a curosity to try new things and possibly engage in some level of risky behaviours are what determine if someone will become a drug addict, not trying marijuana. If you are a risk taker, you are more likely to take drugs period. Blaming marijuana on harder drugs is like blaming religion for suicide bombings. It`s the same argument people use against pronography as a gateway for violence against women or blaming video games for aggressive behaviour.
Marijuana is a pretty tame substance for me, like drinking coffee.
Marijuana itself doesn’t lead to other drugs but for some it can be a catalyst for more intense drug abuse.
It might not be so much of a gateway drug if it were legal. I don’t think I ever would have done any other drugs if I had not already been associating with people who smoked pot. It took me into a different culture.
Since Alcohol is legal, you don’t have to go seeking out an illegal source to get it and don’t have to associate with people who are comfortable with varying levels of illegality.
I think people who use marijuana are more comfortable with drug use in general than those who do not. That doesn’t mean all pot smokers will move on to harder drugs, just that people who use harder drugs are more likely to have smoked pot. It is hard to imagine a great number of people going straight from squeaky clean to a heroin user.
Yes. I think it makes it easier to cross into other drug territory for some but not all.
Almost all serious drug addicts started with weed. That’s not to say that all weed smokers will become addicted but marijuana is debilitating enough in itself.
11 year long smoker here…
The gateway argument could lead us to conclude one of two things.
1— the entire argument is a slippery sloap fallacy.
2— weed, beer and everything else humans consume is a gateweay drug.
It is only a gateway if you are on a journey.
Marijuana is a gateway drug. The US Government made it one. All your life you’re told about the horrors of marijuana and how highly addictive it is and blah blah fucking blah. Once you actually smoke it you realize…fuck….ive been lied to… wonder what else they lied to me about. So you begin to experiment. Some are smart about it and actually research others…not so much. Erowid.org is the greatest site. This isnt to say everyone who smokes marijuana will move on to other things, but smoking it in a way kind of opens your eyes and lets you look at the world in a different way.
At the same time though, any gateway drug arguement is kind of bullshit. I mean the ever so over quoted “all drug addicts started with marijuana” thing. How many of them drank alcohol first? How many smoked a cigarette? Drank a soda?
I think the real solution to this problem is to actually educate our youth about drugs. Ya know like using real facts and not saying shit like MDMA takes ice cream scoops out of your brain. That way people actually know what theyre getting into and can make much more informed choices. They can look at each drug individually and decide wither or not that was something they wanted to take. I would never ever in a million years touch heroin no matter how many pounds and pounds of weed i smoked.
I think if you have an addictive personality, chewing gum can be a gateway drug! It all depends on how you are made, chemically and psychologically. I could get addicted to brussel sprouts if I ate them every day and I don’t even like the damned things.
Like @The_Compassionate_Heretic . The situations drugs you into can be temptation or catalyst. I remember going to some crazy thug drug dealers house with an acquaintance when I was young. I was 17. They demanded I hit crack to prove I wasn’t a cop. Then I was cool to come around after that. Having access to all kinds of blackmarket merchandise was what I thought was great at the time being 17,18,19. If I hadn’t got in those situations and met criminals I would not have done all the crazy criminal druggie shit that happened in my life. Im lucky I didn’t go to the pen or get robbed or killed. Somehow i felt bad vibes and distanced myself 4 months before the shit went down. I blame no one and take full responsibility for my actions and am trying to leave that life and just embrace everyday because it might be the last. Weed don’t lead to other drugs. Thats a choice. It might bring you around other drugs though. Watch the company you keep.
ALCOHOL is the gateway drug!!!! More kids drink alcohol than pot and try it before pot usually. A large amount of kids die in alcohol related crashes not pot related crashes. Its worse on your body and makes you moody or crazy. You can get physically addicted to alcohol and have a stroke if you don’t drink. The worst thing pot will do is make you crave doritoes and maybe bronchitis in the winter from smoking after people with colds. I call it the bud bug.
I agree some about the alcohol but it is such a part of my social scene. i love crackin beers outside in the summer if i’ve been gardening, dinners with wine{+++wine}. i think many people like some drink and don’t care about marajuana
All heroin users started on mother’s milk, the true gateway drug.
Give me a break with this, there’s no causal connection between marijuana use and hard drugs.
Of course.
If youre already doing something wrong… it will be much easier to keep doing wrong things.
@pinkparaluies :: Doing something wrong? It is Friday. I started drinking a 9AM today. My liver would love to chat with you. Make it quick, it won’t be around for long.
I don’t believe for a second that marijuana is a gateway drug. I do not believe in gateway drugs at all. As a few other people have already pointed out, it all depends on someone’s personality to begin with. Just because you try one thing it doesn’t mean you’ll try everything.
By the time you’re snorting marijuana, you’re through the gate and way down the lane. Aspirin is a gateway drug.
@pinkparaluies :: No it is not. See, my point was that legal behavior can be really bad while the illegal one can be OK. Couple hits after work, not a big deal.
@ratboy who snorts pot?
@PupnTaco As George Carlin said, “mothers milk leads to cannabinol”
Pot is NOT a gateway drug. Whoever thinks it is must have gotten their information from watching Reefer Madness
I love getting really high and watching Reefer Madness :P That movie is fucking hilarious.
@pinkparaluies what happens if it’s only illegal for bullshit reasons?
Even better, what happens if it’s actually legal? Like for those who have a state-issued license?
Is it still “wrong?”
I’m inclined to think that people who really think that weed is a gateway drug don’t understand weed itself. It doesn’t cause you to go out and shoot up heroin or buy coke. If you smoke a joint and then next week go out and do cocaine, those two events are totally unrelated. Smoking doesn’t leave you craving a stronger drug. At all.
“Smoking doesn’t leave you craving a stronger drug.” Nope, just pizza and junk food :P
@uberbatman me too! I love how fiendish they make that guy seem! It really cracks me up!
I think the only reason it could be regarded as a gateway drug is because it’s illegal. The same guy who’s selling you marijuana, may also be able to sell you harder drugs. “Hey, wanna up your high?” If it was legal, and able to be purchased in stores, I don’t think it would be as tempting to try something more serious.
To an expanded consciousness, perhaps.
No. I believe weed is the common “1st drug” because it’s incessantly talked about in schools, referenced in the media and so easy to get. The real first drug though is probably alcohol then comes weed then comes the abuse of whatever pills are to be found in the home and then the curiosity to try drugs listed in the health and safety class materials.
I swear by it, and im not a druggie, weed is better for you than alcohol, it just needs to be publicised that its dangerous to smoke before 21 because your brain and mind are not fully developed until then and it can mess with your head, paranoia etc. A mentally stable adult should have no problem bunning a little zut now and again.
also while on this topic i would like to say that anyone contemplating buying legal highs off the internet such as mephedrone PLEASE RESIST, these drugs are not safe because they are legal but rather more dangerous because they are unexplored. I speak from experience as one friend was hospitilised from it. some of them are also RIDICULOUSLY addictive, im talking about the pringle effect, once you start you cant stop. Please dont do it they have been linked to permanent mental health issues and also permanant paralysis and vegetable like state in some people, stick to the homegrown and you’ll be fine!
I googled mephedrone. there’s a question about legality in canada an US. Does anyone know? should be a controoled substance from what @sophillyk says about it.
@faye Mephedrone is a common name for 4-Methylmethcathinone It is currently not a controlled substance in the US but is in a couple other countries. The reason its not a controlled substance here is probably because its a research chemical and the usage of it in america hasnt been high enough to cause the DEA to look at it seriously yet. In other words, it needs to get more popular or more people need to die from it before they do something about it.
There are plenty of legal research chemicals out there still, but as sophillyk said, most realy arent safe and you should really stay the fuck away from them.
The only sense in which marijuana is a gateway drug is that it provides the user access to the illegal underground economy where other illegal drugs are available. In other words, a dealer will usually have access to other drugs, even if she or he does not usually sell them.
Cigerettes and alcohol are gateway drugs. I’ve been smoking pot everyday for over twenty years, thru grad school, same profession for 16 years, same job for 10. I did coke once. I would drop acid if I could find it, and mushrooms too, but I’m not looking too hard.
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