Study say marijuana no gateway drug

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Marijuana is not a “gateway” drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study. Moreover, the study’s findings call into question the long-held belief that has shaped prevention efforts and governmental policy for six decades and caused many a parent to panic upon discovering a bag of pot in their child’s bedroom.

The Pitt researchers tracked 214 boys beginning at ages 10-12, all of whom eventually used either legal or illegal drugs. When the boys reached age 22, they were categorized into three groups: those who used only alcohol or tobacco, those who started with alcohol and tobacco and then used marijuana (gateway sequence) and those who used marijuana prior to alcohol or tobacco (reverse sequence).

Nearly a quarter of the study population who used both legal and illegal drugs at some point – 28 boys – exhibited the reverse pattern of using marijuana prior to alcohol or tobacco, and those individuals were no more likely to develop a substance use disorder than those who followed the traditional succession of alcohol and tobacco before illegal drugs, according to the study, which appears in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

“The gateway progression may be the most common pattern, but it’s certainly not the only order of drug use,” said Ralph E. Tarter, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and lead author of the study. “In fact, the reverse pattern is just as accurate for predicting who might be at risk for developing a drug dependence disorder.”

In addition to determining whether the gateway hypothesis was a better predictor of substance abuse than competing theories, the investigators sought to identify characteristics that distinguished users in the gateway sequence from those who took the reverse path. Out of the 35 variables they examined, only three emerged to be differentiating factors: Reverse pattern users were more likely to have lived in poor physical neighborhood environments, had more exposure to drugs in their neighborhoods and had less parental involvement as young children. Most importantly, a general inclination for deviance from sanctioned behaviors, which can become evident early in childhood, was strongly associated with all illicit drug use, whether it came in the gateway sequence, or the reverse.

While the gateway theory posits that each type of drug is associated with certain specific risk factors that cause the use of subsequent drugs, such as cigarettes or alcohol leading to marijuana, this study’s findings indicate that environmental aspects have stronger influence on which type of substance is used. That is, if it’s easier for a teen to get his hands on marijuana than beer, then he’ll be more likely to smoke pot. This evidence supports what’s known as the common liability model, an emerging theory that states the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug but instead by the user’s individual tendencies and environmental circumstances.

“The emphasis on the drugs themselves, rather than other, more important factors that shape a person’s behavior, has been detrimental to drug policy and prevention programs,” Dr. Tarter said. “To become more effective in our efforts to fight drug abuse, we should devote more attention to interventions that address these issues, particularly to parenting skills that shape the child’s behavior as well as peer and neighborhood environments.”

Indeed, according to the study, interventions focusing on behavior modification may be more effective prevention tactics than current anti-drug initiatives. For example, providing guidance to parents – particularly those in high-risk neighborhoods – on how to boost their caregiving skills and foster bonding with their children, could have a measurable effect on a child’s likelihood to smoke marijuana. Also, early identification of children who exhibit antisocial tendencies could allow for interventions before drug use even begins.

Although this research has significant implications for drug abuse prevention approaches, Dr. Tarter notes that the study has some limitations. First, as only male behaviors were studied, further investigation should explore if the results apply to women as well. Also, the examination of behaviors in phases beyond alcohol and marijuana consumption in the gateway series will be necessary.

From University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
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http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/study-say-marijuana-no-gateway-drug-12116.html

Moved to FP - Crazee
 
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hahah yeah I dont think its a gate way drug at all ; well maby this is because if the fact that I started with k then e then ambien then weed and alcohol
 
^ Yes, that's what it is, and that is what's finally been disproved.

Although anyone that thought logically would already know this.
 
The reason POT is a gateway drug... is because society LIES about it. Then when you try it and it's fun but really NO BIG THING... then you wonder if coke or crack or acid is no big thing also. If they didn't LIE it would just be no big thing.
 
I don't believe it is a gateway drug. You may find that by smoking you are introduced to people who do other drugs, and therefore may become interested, but the same could be said for drinking. Almost everyone I know drank before they smoked weed, does that make alcohol the gateway drug to weed? No. It's simply an environmental thing. Plenty of people here don't like weed at all, but wouldn't turn down an oxy or a dose.

I don't believe anyone started using other drugs because they used marijuana, they were probably somewhat interested in it as it was but after smoking or being exposed to the culture it became easier to acquire the drug and more information on it.

I believe the real gateway here (if anything) is debunking the myths that we are taught about all of these drugs after we try them. Once we try it and realize that we aren't insane or dead, what else did they tell us that isn't true?
 
I personally don't believe it is a gateway drug, but there are MANY variables to consider when trying to prove this right or wrong, because our bodies are all different and our minds work in different ways.
 
Marijuana is a gateway drug for some, not for all. It was for me, as well as many other Bluelighters.

but there are MANY variables to consider when trying to prove this right or wrong, because our bodies are all different and our minds work in different ways.

Exactly. It's really got nothing to do with THC. It's more to do with psychology and a person's environment.
 
i'd say the first substance which one has tried that altered their conscious would really be anybodys gateway drug.

i'd say it was probably ciggies for me. even though there isn't much of an effect, it made me want to try out other things. plus i've always felt naturally inclined to alter my perception of reality for some reason or another.
 
^^^I don't think it's really accurate and valid to include alcohol and cigarettes in the gateway drug theory because they aren't illicit drugs. When a drug is outlawed, a person's psychological attitude towards it will vary greatly than that of legal substances.
 
dml909 said:
The reason POT is a gateway drug... is because society LIES about it. Then when you try it and it's fun but really NO BIG THING... then you wonder if coke or crack or acid is no big thing also. If they didn't LIE it would just be no big thing.
That's it. That's exactly right. By creating an atmosphere of lies society has also created the gateway effect.
 
why are people so concerned with preventing drug use? Ganja especially....

its good for you. smoke it.
 
It's always irritating when people refer to a drug such as cannabis as a gateway drug, of course the study proves the statement wrong.
 
ok I dont think pot use neccesarily leads anyone to any drug, but some of you should re read the article.

this study had nothing to do with cannabis leading to 'harder drugs'. It only refers to alcohol, cannabis and tobacco. How can any of you claim this 'disproves' that pot is a gateway drug if it didn't even address the issue.

The study doesnt show anything, because no one is claiming that pot leads to tobacco and alcohol use (to my knowledge). The term gateway drug is used to imply that pot leads to 'hard drugs'.

The article is only arguing against a strawman.
 
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Here's my view on the issue btw:

Almost everyone is going to use a drug (legal or illegal) in their lifetime. I think the biggest influence on the order that people use drugs is more to do with what is easily available to them, what their peers are using, what is cheapest etc. I think there is 0 evidence that anything exclusive to marijuana will cause you to use a harder drug.

Marijuana is simply more prevalent, available, cheap, whatever else than any other illegal drug, that for most people who have used multiple illegal drugs, theres a pretty good chance that marijuana was one of the first they used.

So it's no surprise that there may be a correlation between 'hard drug' users having used marijuana first, but to use this as evidence that marijuana is the reason they tried hard drugs is incredibly narrow minded, and ill thought out. More so a political/religious scare tactic than anything else.
 
With due respect to those arguing that this proves that Marijuana isn't a gateway drug: it doesn't. It provides evidence to support that argument, that's all. There are other studies out there which suggest that marijuana is a gateway drug.

Personally, I think the following comment in the article is quite sensible, and probably reflects reality (e.g., I don't think that M is a gateway drug). But I don't think we have that evidence 100% yet:

"the common liability model states the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug but instead by the user’s individual tendencies and environmental circumstances."

That seems pretty sensible and obvious to me. Just not completely proven yet :)
 
aside from alcohol and tobacco, marijuana was the first drug i tried. for me personally it was a gateway drug.

there are many factors that can make marijuana a gateway drug, but they are dependant on the person and their environment and not the drug itself.

there is nothing chemically about marijuana that gives it any reason to be labelled a gateway drug.
 
Well, it's certainly good to hear good news from the rationalist front. Maybe world is not totally doomed.

Personally, I drank alcohol before I tried weed, and weed before I started to smoke cigarettes. Nowadays I'm ready to use any substance available to me, but I still consider pot to be the "drug of choice" for me; after all, in the sky of psychoactive substances, it's the brightest sun in my eyes, both in variety of effects and abstract power it has for opening the eyes of men.
 
Marijuana can certainly be a gateway drug because with drugs there exists a slippery slope: once you start taking one drug, it's much easier to experiment with other drugs.

However, this is not the case with all people. The article just confirmed what we've known all along; everyone is different and has different habits of progression and use.
 
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