Gateway Drugs

dhcdavid · Jun 3, 2012

I assume I'm not alone in my bs detector alarm sounding loud and long when I hear or read about a politician/ social commentator/ medical professional arguing in favour of marijuana being kept illegal on the grounds of its status as a "gateway drug": the implication being that because the vast majority of heroin users started off with marijuana then it's a foregone conclusion that marijuana is a gateway drug and then, presumably, I feel it's implicitly stated that any loosening of regulations/ legalising/ decriminalisng of marijuana would therefore lead to a massive upsurge in heroin addiction.

How is it that this piece of such crass pseudo-scientific (il)logic - so bad that it's not even wrong.... - can be heard from some apparently quite intelligent people and why is its inherently wrong premise (which is only true because both substances happen to be illegal) bandied about so often that this has become accepted thinking in today's Western public arena?

Looking specifically at this non-link between marijuana and heroin: I'm certain that not only was there no increase in hard drug use in the Netherlands when marijuana became effectively decriminalised and widely available for sale out in the open but I'll go one step further and assert that the Netherlands has way lower per-capita heroin usage than, for example, the U.S........a 1988 paper (http://www.csdp.org/research/dutch.pdf) which uses U.S. census data and data published by the Dutch Ministry of Health notes that the U.S.A has a per capita heroin usage rate of 308 per 100 000 whereas the Netherlands has a heroin usage rate of only 160 per 100 000.

(Now it's possible that these figures have changed drastically in the last 24 years but I don't believe they have and if you're certain they have please produce data to back up your claim)

Does this not suggest the inherent flaws with the "marijuana-as-gateway-drug-to-hard-drugs-like-heroin" theory? But why is this not more commonly known?

Any thoughts on this subject including any criticisms or queries about my data or speculations would be most welcome.

Interested in other research studies? Find more drug studies.

23536 · Jun 3, 2012

it may be false, but it's not necessarily crass or pseudo-scientific. Here is some research relating to the concept:

NSFW:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...355245,9130188,12472633,8246462?report=docsum

i against i · Jun 3, 2012

to me seems pretty much, you want to try drugs, you're probably not going to go straight for heroin, you're probably going to go for something less hard, so of course "if you've smoked weed you're more likely to become a junkie" would make mathematical sense.

if you have no desire to try drugs, you're probably never gonna do heroin.. (or anything..)

Xeromatosis · Jun 3, 2012

In my experience if you use hard drugs then you probably smoke weed, but if you smoke weed then you don't necessarily do hard drugs. Squares and rectangles and all that.
However i've found that heavy tobacco smokers are apparently much more likely to concurrently use dangerous drugs. Though again this correlation can be reversed like the first.
It's only one guys experience but in every rehab i've ever been to it seems like everyone bangs grits, and everyone drinks mountain dew.

sekio · Jun 3, 2012

Not that I have the reference or anything, but I recently saw a study that claimed that even playing loud dance music was correlated with drug usage.

I think a lot of this kind of stuff is a chicken-and-egg problem. Some people like to experience novelty more than others, and novelty-seeking behaviour is often concurrent with psychonautics.

Deleted member 170540 · Jun 3, 2012

I don't believe in the gateway theory... My first experience with intoxicants was smoking pot when I was 15 years old. I hadn't even experimented with alcohol before that. Now I'm almost 30, I'm an alcoholic trying to quit drinking, I smoke cigarettes like a chimney but I take other drugs only a few times a year. I don't even have good contacts to get drugs from. I'm mostly interested in psychedelics and after reading 'The Spirit Molecule', I definitely want to experience a DMT trip at least once in my life. I don't want to take benzos or opiates or other addictive drugs.

alkap555 · Jun 3, 2012

I remember this topic from a behavioral pharmacology course I took a few years ago. The professor did cite some convincing studies regarding cannabis and nicotine increasing the likelihood of hard drug use/abuse later in life. As much as I would like to dismiss the gateway hypothesis as nonsense, the available (animal) data is most convincing.

Obviously in human studies its difficult to draw causal conclusions, but IIRC the most convincing data from that course came from rodent studies, and involved cannabis exposure and long-term sensitization to the effects of cocaine and increased self-administration relative to control rats. Can't find the study though, may be able to dig up some old powerpoint slides w/ citations though.

Kinda related to what I was talking about, but I'm off-campus and cant access full-text

Cannabinoid-opioid interactions in drug discrimination and self-administration: effect of maternal, postnatal, adolescent and adult exposure to the drugs.

Cannabinoids and opioids are known to strictly interact in many physiological and pathological functions, including addiction. The endogenous opioid system is significantly influenced by maternal or perinatal cannabinoid exposure, major changes concerning operant behaviour in adult animals. Copious data suggests that adolescence is also a particularly sensitive period of life not only for the initiation of abusing illicit drugs, but also for the effects that these drugs exert on the neural circuitries leading to drug dependence. This paper examines the role played by the age of drug exposure in the susceptibility to discriminative and reinforcing effects of both cannabinoids and opioids. We first revisited evidence of alterations in the density and functionality of mu-opioid and CB1 cannabinoid receptors in reward-related brain regions caused by either maternal, postnatal, adolescent or adult exposure to opioids and cannabinoids. Then, we reviewed behavioural evidence of the long-term consequences of exposure to opioids and cannabinoids during gestation, postnatal period, adolescence or adulthood, focusing mostly on drug discrimination and self-administration studies. Overall, evidence confirms a neurobiological convergence of the cannabinoid and opioid systems that is manifest at both receptor and behavioural levels. Although discrepant results have been reported, some data support the gateway hypothesis that adolescent cannabis exposure contributes to greater opioid intake in adulthood. However, it should be kept into consideration that in humans genetic, environmental, and social factors could influence the direct neurobiological effects of early cannabis exposure to the progression to adult drug abuse.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20017729

Here is an interesting twin study:

We assess the relationship between early cannabis use and the subsequent use and abuse/ dependence of other illicit drugs in a population-based sample of male and female twin pairs using four analyses: (i) analysis of the association between early cannabis use and other illicit drug use and abuse/dependence in the entire sample of twins, (ii) assessment of the influence of early cannabis use in twin 1 on twin 2's use or abuse/dependence of other illicit drugs, (iii) use of twin pairs discordant for early cannabis use in a discordant twin design and (iv) a model-fitting procedure.
RESULTS:
We found: (i) a strong association between early cannabis use and use and abuse/dependence of other illicit drugs in the sample, (ii) twin 1's early cannabis use is significantly associated with the twin 2's other illicit drug use, (iii) the role of correlated genetic factors with some evidence for a causal influence, and (iv) the correlated liabilities model fits the data well.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15697049

Xeromatosis · Jun 3, 2012

playing loud dance music was correlated with drug usage.

Truly Hilarious! I'd believe it too, drugs and music go together like a horse and carraige. Tunes are half the high.

Can't find the study though

Rats, You had me so interested too. I blame the liberals.
If you do happen across it i humbly demand it posted or pmed to me

And poly, you do realize many studies classify psychedelics as hard drugs and would use you as an example rather then confounding instance.
Good luck with the drinking, i've been there and it was a period of my life i don't like to remember. Fortunately, for obvious reasons there's not much i DO remember about those times. Still It's easier to quit then you think, i found replacing it with a coffee/caffeine addiction an acceptable compromise, easier to swallow then god, and of the two drinks, far less likely to leave you scarred, embarrassed, or even in the most dire cases, deeply, so very deeply, ashamed.
Ordem e Progresso~

sekio · Jun 3, 2012

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=8165

Epsilon Alpha · Jun 4, 2012

There's a few papers on epigenetics and addiction that mention nicotine "priming" mouse or rat models for cocaine abuse. A quick google search should bring it up, as I can't post links from my phone.

I'm more of the opinion that explicit recreational drug use in general sensitizes one to further drug use. Granted various drugs will sensitize different processes and to different extents.

Stress in general also seems to prime for addiction in rat models as well.

Sprout · Jun 4, 2012

The first drug I touched is caffeine: is it classed as a gateway drug? No.
Cannabis is about 6th or 7th on the list of drugs I tried chronologically anyway...

SM0K3Y · Jun 4, 2012

The only things that I consider gateway drugs are:

Percocets, and roxicet 30's. Percocets can lead to higher dosage opiates like roxi 30's, and roxicet 30's usually lead to oxy's/opana's/dope once you start forming a habit.

Really anything can be a "gateway drug" I don't believe pot is, since everyone makes it out to be. I know people who have smoked pot, and only pot, for years. Once you start getting into pills, coke, meth, acid, stuff like that you are more prone to experiment with other things

CuDLife · Jun 4, 2012

When they decriminalized it in the state of Oregon the same thing happened, weed usage went up but hard drug usage declined, giving the thought that would be the outcome for the entire country, but nahhhhh they didnt think so.

I think its actually proven that heavy tobacco users are much more likely to go on to more dangerous stuff

dhcdavid · Jun 4, 2012

Morpheus19 said:
Cannabis may be a gateway drug, but only because it's illegal. People have to get to know drug dealers in order to get weed, and sooner or later, they will be offered something other than weed.

Thankyou. EXACTLY the point I was trying to make.

SM0K3Y · Jun 4, 2012

Morpheus19 said:
Cannabis may be a gateway drug, but only because it's illegal. People have to get to know drug dealers in order to get weed, and sooner or later, they will be offered something other than weed.

To be honest, most pot dealers sell just pot. I don't know too many that sell other things. The profit margin on pot (unless in bulk) is pretty little for the amount of work that is being put in.

But also that doesn't make pot a gateway drug, it makes your pot dealer a gateway dealer. Pot in and of itself doesn't lead to other drug use.

klondike_bar · Jun 6, 2012

saying a drug is a gateway to another drug is like saying internet access is a gateway to converting to buddhism (god save our innocent christian kids!). Yeah it IS a gateway, but only to those interested in travelling through, which are 3 types of people:

1) Those who crave knowledge/understanding beyond their current extent.
2) Those seeking "better" knowledge/understanding than their current extent.
3) Those who stumble upon it accidentally or through the guidance of their peers, and are introduced to a new topic of interest.

SM0K3Y · Jun 6, 2012

klondike_bar said:
saying a drug is a gateway to another drug is like saying internet access is a gateway to converting to buddhism (god save our innocent christian kids!). Yeah it IS a gateway, but only to those interested in travelling through, which are 3 types of people:

1) Those who crave knowledge/understanding beyond their current extent.
2) Those seeking "better" knowledge/understanding than their current extent.
3) Those who stumble upon it accidentally or through the guidance of their peers, and are introduced to a new topic of interest.

Well I'd say percocets and roxicodone 30mg pills are gateways for Oxy 80's, opana 40's, and heroin. Once you start with opiates, it usually is a chain effect where you work yourself down it, one link at a time. Eventually leading to addiction (or tolerance) and an increase in intake and drugs with a higher potency. I know I started out doing percocet and didn't move to anything harder, it wasn't until I started messing with 30mg roxi's that I did. Then again it was oxy, opana, heroin. Downward spiral at its best.

The difference there, is that pot you really can't get a "Tolerance" per say, but you get used to the feeling. You can smoke more and more pot, better strains, but it doesn't really lead to addiction (other than a mental want) or a tolerance where you NEED to smoke your pot or you can't get out of bed since you have the cold sweats, shits, puking, and body aches worse than arthritis.

alkap555 · Jun 7, 2012

I understand what y'all are saying, but there is some interesting research about CB1 agonists (i.e. THC etc) increasing drug-seeking behavior and self-administration of other dopaminergic and opioidergic (rewarding) drugs.

Here is one paper:

Cannabinoid receptor stimulation increases motivation for nicotine and nicotine seeking

....These findings indicate that cannabinoid CB1-receptor stimulation increases the reinforcing effects of nicotine and precipitates relapse to nicotine-seeking behaviour in abstinent subjects. Thus, modulating CB1-receptor signalling might have therapeutic value for treating nicotine dependence.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21521420

And this paper demonstrates that antagonizing the CB1 receptor reduces reinstatement of heroin-seeking behavior:

Cannabinoid CB(1) antagonist SR 141716A attenuates reinstatement of heroin self-administration in heroin-abstinent rats

Results of this study showed that (i) priming injections of heroin (0.1 mg/kg) as well as CB(1) agonists WIN 55,212-2 (0.15 or 0.30 mg/kg) and CP 55,940 (0.05 or 0.1 mg/kg) completely restore heroin-seeking behaviour; (ii) primings of naloxone (1 mg/kg) and SR 141716A (0.3 mg/kg) had no effect when administered alone; (iii) heroin-induced reinstatement was fully prevented by pre-treatment with either naloxone or SR 141716A; (iv) pre-treatment with SR 141716A significantly reduced WIN 55,212-2 and CP 55,940 priming effects. These results suggest that cannabinoid CB(1) receptors play an important role in the mechanisms underlying relapse to heroin-seeking and depict CB(1) antagonists as possible therapeutic agents for use in the prevention of relapse to heroin abuse

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15910886

So as much as I would like to believe that smoking weed doesn't 'prime' the brain to seek out other rewarding drugs, there is considerable evidence suggesting that it may indeed act as somewhat of a gateway drug. At the very least, it doesn't look like THC would decrease use of other drugs.

Cid Lysergic · Jun 7, 2012

My belief is the illegality of weed is what causes some to try other drugs. After learning that most of what I was being fed for involving weed was actually false, I started to question other drugs. I find that cigarettes & alcohol had no effect on me trying other substances. Mostly weed & LSD are what drove me to give things a go.

adder · Jun 7, 2012

Having known some heroin users and marihuana users, I can say that I observed no rush towards "hard drugs" like amphetamines, cocaine, or heroin in the group of marihuana smokers. But also I observed that marihuana use among heroin users was scarce.

There's one simple test one can perform. Stand not far from the entrance to the MMT programme point, then walk up to some junkies there and ask them if they could get you some weed. They may have various prescriptions for morphine, tramadol, clonazepam for sale, they may have clonazepam pills which are kind of a currency around there (e.g. one can buy syrup from them paying in pills instead of money), they have contacts for heroin, some shitty speed, and that's all.

A vast majority have never smoked weed but as you look at them, it seems like everyone smokes tobacco...

And if I'm to talk about myself, well, the first time I smoked marihuana was long long after I tried morphine, a lot of other opioids, and heroin. Should I say opioids got me into marihuana? I see no connection between marihuana effects and heroin effects, so if there exist any path from marihuana to heroin, it clearly isn't there because marihuana smokers at some point feel that marihuana is not enough for them any more and heroin will be a great substitute. This is nonsense. If someone proceeds to heroin from marihuana, then maybe he's just a type of person who likes to be f...ed up and it doesn't matter what makes him/her feel that way.

Gateway Drugs

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