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Gateway Drug?

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Anatine4

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Feb 26, 2016
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I think I am in the right category if not I apologize.

Everyone seems to agree that marijuana the great evil plant is the gateway to a lot harder drugs. The thing is though all the stoners that I know pretty much only smoke and nothing else. To me I figure most kids that smoke weed in high school will just do that. On the other hand someone who has surgery or something and gets a pill prescription if they get hooked on them they are going to try and chase that high and move to herion or meth etc. There are to many reasons to list
I started on stimulants and pain killers before I smoked any weed and I can't be the only one.The government tries to say that you smoke a bowl and a week later you will be shooting up herion in the bathroom of Arby's.
So is there a gateway drug?
What do all you people think.

To me it's my attitude that got me into drugs not smoking the "evil" herb once.
 
I firmly believe it is a gateway drug, not in the sense you described. But in the way i used to love marijuana but once I got curious and tried stims, benzos, opiates, it just doesn't compare. I never even buy it these days ill still smoke I mean but if it's weed or xanax, or meth, or pain pills? Best believe I'm choosing the latter.
 
That's really interesting. You thought if weed was good pills would be so much better?
 
From my observations over the years with friends and acquaintances, cigarette smoking in young people seemed to be one of the highest predictors of experimenting with, and risking getting addicted to, hard drugs.

The frequent dosing, short half life, rapid effect, synergy with other drugs, usage in the face of overwhelming health risks, feelings of being outside of the mainstream, physical dependence, and psychological cravings that go along with smoking cigarettes seem to prime the brain to addiction. Smoking tobacco is a very fiendish and more-ish drug route of administration, much more so than the "set-and-forget," hours-lasting high of cannabis.
 
Very well articulated, ergie.

I'd say broadly "pharmaceuticals". Or even nootropics as well. Be it pain killers, anti anxiety meds, go pills (amphetamine and friends), sleeping pills, etc. Even benadryl or say, phenibut.

If it's legal or made in a lab with a number on its face it can't be bad, they GIVE them to people in need. And then ...you run out, but you liked the feeling, and can't get more. So we go on to the street alternatives and gain exposure to a wider variety of poisons (or potions, depending on perspective).

I also think alcohol is a significant gateway drug. Whose first cig was when they were drunk? So many.
 
I think it's been well-established that cannabis is only a gateway because you need to find illegal business connections in order to obtain some, and that already means potential exposure to other drugs. No such thing with legal and regulated drugs like booze. I don't think there can be one gateway drug in the absolute sense, because people are different and have different behavioral tendencies. For most it may be booze, tobacco or cannabis, but some may start (like OP) from other drugs already. And also, alcohol is a hard drug and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.
 
Agree completely with what drunkie said. Cannabis is a gateway drug for sure. But I agree that its illegality is the biggest reason..

As drunkie said, because people who want to smoke weed are forced to go through illegal channels, they are very likely to be exposed to other illegal drugs sooner or later.. And because they were already forced into this criminal circuit to buy their weed, it's nothing new.

Meeting up with dealers at that point already doesn't feel 'scary' or 'sketchy' anymore because they've already done it so many times before to buy their weed. It's just a different drug, but the exchange works/feels the same and is nothing new at that point.

So yeah, there's no denying weed is definitely a big gateway drug, but it's definitely the illegality of weed that makes this so.
 
^ and it's appalling how a lot of people don't realize that and buy the whole "cannabis is a gateway drug" thing. Well, perhaps not anymore, but they did in the past. Oh the power of ignorance.
 
I was just reading the DARE program in America has stopped saying cannabis is a gateway drug. They now focus on cigarettes and alcohol as gateways to other drugs.
 
Well with me, the first drug I ever tried was 6 ounces of cough syurp(DXM), then alchohol then weed... Needleess to say DXM being my first drug to try, it was actually a really intesnse interesting experince for being 13. Would have done it more(tried it a few more times) but the itching turned me off of it..not a pleasant itch like with opiates but really annoying and shit.
But weed or alchochol is what most people start off wiith, or cigs if you wanna count that. For me it was: DXM,Alchohol, Weed, benzos, pain pills...didn't do any uppers till I was 21. Actually I take that back, my first drug was alchohol when I was 12.
 
I don't think you can say any one drug is a gateway drug, rather the feeling of being high is the gateway.

If you get high on anything and you enjoy it, you will actively seek out other experiences.
 
manboychef said:
I don't think you can say any one drug is a gateway drug, rather the feeling of being high is the gateway.

If you get high on anything and you enjoy it, you will actively seek out other experiences.
Click to expand...

This is probably the most accurate way to put it.
 
I started this thread for intelligent conversation that is what I got.
I didn't think of the "gateway" being less about the drug and more about the act. Wether it be booze or tobacco or weed or anything.
I student my try adderall to get ahead and they realize they like it. After that they know somebody and it gets a lot easier.
The dare program taking cannabis off there list is news to me.
What manboychef said is the most accurate I have heard.
So what makes somebody chase that first high?
Is it a simple as peer pressure?
Do something that is illegal and the thrill?
Or just different reasons for everyone?
 
I was a huge stoner for most of my teen years, nothing but weed, talked shit about other drugs.occasional codeine was about it. But one night I had a few drinks with my weed dealer, he liked smoking crack on the weekends and it looked like he was having fun, so I wanted to try, had to beg him, he only gave me a hit to shut me up. For me alcohol was the gate way drug I guess, lowered my inhibitions and made me more open to try new shit, well I became an alcoholic from there and here I am, tons more awesome drugs later...
 
Anatine4 said:
So what makes somebody chase that first high?
Is it a simple as peer pressure?
Do something that is illegal and the thrill?
Or just different reasons for everyone?
Click to expand...

Different strokes for different folks, my friend. I don't think peer pressure can be a major reason for addiction, because it is mainly restricted to teen years. It may be a catalyst, but once the pressure goes away, the person remains addicted for a different reason. I believe the most unhealthy reason to chase the high is the desire to get away from your life, to numb your senses and whatnot. At least that's why I do it. I was never a part of a teen drug using culture, I started after school and always did it alone. The reason is simple - getting high (or drunk, what I did for a while as well) is a much simpler way to "entertain" myself, I practically don't have to think of activities to do in order to feel good. I guess it's a result of being frustrated and bored of sobriety/reality.

However, that's just me. As I said, different reasons for everyone.
 
Thanks, topham! :) Yup, certain pharmaceuticals can definitely be an insidious way for people to get themselves knee deep in an opiate habit without even realizing that they're playing with fire: perceived safety under the blankets of regulated and legal, with neither regard nor respect towards the fact that certain Rx opiates/benzos are medicinal tools that when dosed highly have the potential to be as habit-producing as any other hard drug. You're also on point with addiction to Rx's being a gateway to the underground hard drug scene. Alice runs out of her oxy prescription she's abusing so she turns to a dealer, that oxy dealer happens to sell drugs like H that seem like a more economical choice at first, and so on.

A lot of great replies in this thread. I agree that alcohol is a gateway drug, it was my first drug at 15. Drunk and Pill2Chill: the point that the illegality of cannabis leading to having to go through dealers who might also sell hard drugs is one I haven't really thought about. MMJ legislation was enacted in '96 in this state, but dispensaries and safe access in the area really came about in '06, so shortly after as a HS senior I decided to experiment with weed and concluded that it would be the only recreational drug I would get myself involved with. I never even knew a dedicated dealer of various drugs (but not H/meth) until 2014 during my hunt for shrooms, but I bet if young people in the area who wanted to smoke weed had to go through dealers, rather than through a friend who has a mmj rec/going to the dispensaries themselves, there would be a lot more hard drug use throughout the state. Safe access to medicinal and recreational marijuana helps to protect people in more ways than one.

Well put, manboychef, an addict is an addict before any specific drug comes into the picture. That being said, I do think different drugs have different potentials in propelling users to rock-bottom addiction. The thought process and fixation on altered mind states to cope or escape might be the same regardless of the activity/drug, but the personal damage definitely gets a lot worse when dealing with harder drugs.
 
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You know guys I have never believed in this theory about "gateway drugs". To me it's just a made up phrase cooked up by politicians.

The Chef pretty much got it right in his statement.
 
Marijuana was without a doubt my gateway drug. In my younger years like most people I experimented with alcohol and tobacco but never had a problem. Other than those I was very naïve about drugs and was a "just say no" type of person.

At the age of 35 a friend from work talked me into trying weed for my insomnia. At first I was only using it to sleep. After about 2 weeks of light daily use I increased my dosage and started to appreciate the high. A year into pretty heavy daily use my tolerance was pretty high and I no longer was so I started mixing in other drugs to increase or change the high.

First it was alprazolam, I liked how it made the high feel more floaty. Then came hydrocodone....oh my god!<3 After that first high I was on a hunt for more and strangely hydrocodone was kind of difficult to find but oxycodone wasn't. This led to a lot of use (for me) of what ever I could find whether it was tramadol or the codones.

Six years later I'm still doing weed daily, vaping nicotine and have a 3+ year kratom addiction. Take pharm amphetamines when I can find them and have also done methamphetamine and heroin.

It's weird thinking back just 10 years ago when I was so anti-drug and rarely even drank, now drugs are about all I think about.
 
Alcohol was for me... I never knew what drugs were except for weed and cocaine, back then... I grew up in a very sheltered community!! First 'drug' drug I did was ecstacy, which led to ketamine, ghb, weed, and then a little cocaine, and so on
 
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