Study: Marijuana Does Not Lead to Hard Drugs

Reuters ^ | Dec. 2, 2002 | unknown

[Sparta]

— WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Countering a basic principle of American anti-drug policies, an independent U.S. study concluded on Monday that marijuana use does not lead teenagers to experiment with hard drugs like heroin or cocaine.

The study by the private, nonprofit RAND Drug Policy Research Center rebutted the theory that marijuana acts as a so-called gateway drug to more harmful narcotics, a key argument against legalizing pot in the United States.

The researchers did not advocate easing restrictions in marijuana, but questioned the focus on this substance in drug control efforts.

Using data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse between 1982 and 1994, the study concluded teenagers who took hard drugs were predisposed to do so whether they tried marijuana first or not.

"Kids get their first opportunity to use marijuana years before they get their first exposure to hard drugs," said Andrew Morral, lead author of the RAND study.

"Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It's just the first thing kids often come across."

Morral said 50 percent of U.S. teenagers had access to marijuana by the age of 16, while the majority had no exposure to cocaine, heroin or hallucinogens until they were 20.

The study, published in the British journal Addiction, does not advocate legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, which has been linked to side-effects including short-term memory loss.

But given limited resources, Morral said the U.S. government should reconsider the prominence of marijuana in its much-publicized "war on drugs."

"To a certain extent we are diverting resources away from hard drug problems," he said. "Spending money on marijuana control may not be having downstream consequences on the use of hard drugs."

Researchers say predisposition to drug use has been linked to genetic factors and one's environment, including family dynamics and the availability of drugs in the neighborhood.

[Illbay]

Psst: Pot leads to hard drug use.

Pass it on.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

You will find this article at the top of the linked list.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/involved?group=124

[SunStar]

BINGO!

[Smogger]

Finding recreational users or abusers of drugs who haven't used marijuana will be just a bit easieer than finding an honest man.

But considerably easier then finding recreational users of drugs who haven't used liquor or tobacco.

[Illbay]

Your refutation is based on even less. At least he discussed his own observations. You just said "nuh-UH!"

[What Is Ain't]

"Something will start at the Republican National Committee, inside the building, and it will explode the next day on the right-wing talk-show network and on Fox News and in the newspapers that play this game," ---- Al Gore

Replace RNC with Rand and Fox News with Reuters.

[Ronin]

I did a lot of pot 20-30 years ago during my teens and early 20s, but never touched anything harder. And, yes, I know a lot of people that can say the same. I haven't touched anything harder than scotch in more years than I can remember.

Like it or not, marijuana is a lot less destructive in virtually every way than alcohol. Yet no one is seriously considering prohibition again.

They do make a good point. Money and resources spent chasing kids with a few home-grown buds in their apartment could be much better spent on the serious problems facing America -- like the war on terror, for instance.

There is no need to keep persuing a phony and unwinnable drug war, that does nothing but turn hardworking, taxpaying Americans into criminals, when we have a genuine enemy that needs to be confronted.

[breakem]

Stop applying the rules of logi. Don't you know this is a drug thread!

[breakem]

or the rules of spelling for that matter.

[SunStar]

Your refutation is based on even less. At least he discussed his own observations. You just said "nuh-UH!"

Actually, I said "I've found the opposite to be true."

My observations are that the pot users I know do not use hard drugs. In fact, they are quick to point out that the other major drugs of choice are not "natural" like marijuana is.

[authordavidtoy]

The pot dilemna could be settled by one "joint" session of congress.

[galt-jw]

hey, facts don't matter here. druggie (sarcasm).

[tracer]

wodping

[galt-jw]

every one who tries to define reality from anecdotal experience or the collective is being intellectually invalid.

[realpatriot71]

Perhaps we should concentrate on the dihydrogen oxide problem as well?

[galt-jw]

Psst. Blanket statements lead to a representation of reality that fits very well into small minds.

[realpatriot71]

Someone paid attention in Logic 101 . . . sadly most of your statement will be lost on the meathead puritans here

[Tony Niar Brain]

Drugs and spelling always mix.

[Kerberos]

”Like it or not, marijuana is a lot less destructive in virtually every way than alcohol. Yet no one is seriously considering prohibition again.”

That’s because at some level they understand that prohibition didn’t work. Now weather or not they understand the fallout that was created by the prohibition laws is another matter.

The truth is that alcohol kills more people and creates more destruction per year than all drugs combined. And if any of the WOD’ers who usually pop off on these threads had any intellectual or moral honesty about themselves they would have researched the data and been aware of that fact and would likewise be calling for the prohibition of alcohol as well as drugs.

However, I suspect that most of the rabid WOD’ers here are probably staunch members of the Budweiser for lunch bunch.

[Bedford Forrest]

I did a lot of pot 20-30 years ago during my teens and early 20s, but never touched anything harder. And, yes, I know a lot of people that can say the same. I haven't touched anything harder than scotch in more years than I can remember.

Maybe you can't remember very many years. George Soros, the quisling NWO apparatchik, spends big bucks pushing repeal of our drug laws. Why does a quisling billionaire like Soros want to have lots more American kids strung out on drugs? Is it because he loves this country? I don't think so.