Quote:
Originally Posted by wraymond
Planet Real Jay.
Have a look at the first stop on a simple google search - it gives you a straight forward answer from a wholly reputable and valid source.
www.drugrehab.com/guides/gateway-drugs |
OK, if it's pick and choose time, apart from the fact that the linked page is at pains (repeatedly) to make sure that it says 'Theory' and 'Hypothesis' about gateway drugs - (and it specifically calls alcohol a gateway drug btw.)
It goes on to say (quite damningly for the gateway argument) "D.A.R.E. officials now admit that most people who smoke pot do not move on to harder drugs"
To put it simply just because marijuana precedes hard drugs doesn't mean that marijuana causes hard drug usage.
For instance let's look at one of the highlighted quotes on that page:
"The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that teens who use gateway drugs are
266 times more likely to develop a cocaine addiction than those who do not."
Does this mean that usage of so-called 'gateway drugs' cause cocaine addiction? No it doesn't it just means that a large number of cocaine users had a propensity for taking drugs, period. If it were true then it would be quoted as x% of gateway drug users will become cocaine addicts where x% is a large percentage > 50% - and this isn't so.