Why is marijuana considered to be a “Gateway Drug”?
The slandering of marijuana, or cannabis, as a “gateway drug” is an argument that has been employed by anti-marijuana activists everywhere since the beginning. The idea is that if you try marijuana then you are more likely to move on to harmful, more addictive drugs afterwards. Although this may have a sliver of legitimacy, it is ultimately an assumption based off fear and little to no factual information or research.
The truth is marijuana is the most benign drug available anywhere, and THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is very likely one of the least harmful substances known to humans. Those who continue to stubbornly refute this are also simultaneously disregarding researched and proven facts. A 12 year University of Pittsburgh study indicates that marijuana is not a gateway drug. In fact, the study revealed some more disturbing answers: those who tried marijuana first and then moved on to tobacco and alcohol were far less likely to try to harder drugs than those who experimented with tobacco and alcohol first. This means that tobacco and alcohol, the two “justly” legal substances in today’s society, are more fitting of the “gateway drug” label than marijuana is.
This information is from over a decade long of research and studying, yet those who argue that it is a gateway drug never seem to provide any actual evidence or studies.
Furthermore, when marijuana became partially legalized in the Netherlands in 1970, the use of marijuana went up (quite drastically i might add) while the sales of harder drugs, such as cocaine or crack, decreased substantially. Substituting the poison that has destroyed countless lives and families for the potential unlimited use of cannabis (which has been directly linked to 0 deaths in history) is not exactly a devastating tradeoff, as most who oppose the legalization of marijuana will have you think. Now, the Netherlands is home to one of the smallest percentages of marijuana smokers, 15 and over, in the entire world. (And yes, Cannabis is legal for medicinal and recreational use everywhere in the The Netherlands.) This could explain why the percentage of Americans who have tried heroin is 3 times higher compared to the percentage of Dutch who have.
So, while one may have been nurtured to view marijuana as unhealthy and immoral, the facts and research should always be emphasized – and they are. This is why marijuana is already making a push towards legalization in the United States (less than 100 years after its condemnation), people are realizing that it’s merely a benign plant with countless medicinal properties, and not, in fact, a gateway drug.
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The only reason that studies have shown that is because people who have done the harder drugs are more likely to have smoked weed first because it is the least harmful. It’s like if you are going to ride your first roller coaster and you were a bit scared, would you ride the biggest one first? Or would you ride on a smaller one to see if you like roller coasters in the first place? One way it leads to other drugs is because it is illegal. People who are willing to do something illegal like smoke marijuana are more willing to do other illegal drugs because they clearly don’t care as much for the law. If you look at the wikipedia on the gateway drug theory, it shows studies which support and don’t support the theory: http://en.wikipedia.
