Posted on 07/21/2006 5:34:00 AM PDT by Wolfie
Gateway to Nowhere?
The evidence that pot doesn't lead to heroin.
Earlier this month, professor Yasmin Hurd of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine released a study showing that rats exposed to the main ingredient in marijuana during their adolescence showed a greater sensitivity to heroin as adults. The wire lit up with articles announcing confirmation for the "gateway theory"—the claim that marijuana use leads to harder drugs.
It's a theory that has long seemed to make intuitive sense, but remained unproven. The federal government's last National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted in 2004, counted about 97 million Americans who have tried marijuana, compared to 3 million who have tried heroin (166,000 had used it in the previous month). That's not much of a rush through the gateway. And a number of studies have demonstrated that your chances of becoming an addict are higher if addiction runs in your family, or if heroin is readily available in your community, or if you're a risk-taker. These factors can account for the total number of heroin addicts, which could make the gateway theory superfluous.
On close inspection, Hurd's research, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, doesn't show otherwise. For the most part, it's a blow to the gateway theory. To be sure, Hurd found that rats who got high on pot as adolescents used more heroin once they were addicted. But she found no evidence that they were more likely to become addicted than the rats in the control group who'd never been exposed to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, marijuana's main ingredient.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Because pot smokers demonstrate a willingness to "risk" in order to acquire and smoke pot? I can see the sense in that. But that says nothing at all about whether pot should be criminalized . . . it only says that people willing to take a small risk are probably more willing than others to take a bigger risk.
111 liters of Phish music. STAT!
When will you accept that the same connection exists with people who use alcohol?
Still no "urge" to try heroin.
The exception doesn't prove the rule, but statistically, the gateway theory has about as much validity as Algore's global warming theories do.
Sure, that's plausible. Heroin is highly addictive.
But, as I said in my post, that has nothing to do with the gateway theory. As correctly stated by the author, it is "the claim that marijuana use leads to harder drugs". The theory says that pot users are more likely to try other drugs, including harder drugs.
And if a higher percentage of pot smokers (vs. carrot eaters or milk drinkers) try harder drugs, that will naturally result in a higher number addicted, even if the addiction rate is the same.
And I am not, as an adult, demanding such proof either. We, all of us, realize that such proof does not exist in this fallible world.
But I do demand some unbiased, tested results, which may or may not be sufficient proof. Yes, I need a study to prove to me what "common sense" seems to indicate. There are just too many things that "common sense" says is "right", and that are incontrovertibly wrong.
For instance, the world is not flat. The Sun does not orbit the Earth. A cannonball, even though heavier, does not fall faster than a wooden ball.
That is what the Scientific Revolution was all about ... being willing to take "common sense", received wisdom, assumptions, and put them to the test. It wasn't about putting one's fingers in one's ears and saying, "La la la, I can't hear you because I don't like what you're telling me, it goes against my common sense."
LOL--but after the weekend-even without pot-I bet people are stupid. I am pretty stupid on Mondays!!!
And you didn't even mention people who booze on the weekends, I bet they are stupid and hurting!!!
There ya go. Does anyone need any more proof that Phish music is gateway music. How many more will suffer before we wise up and fund a multi-billion dollar War on Phish. Can you believe the Catholic Church used to support eating fish on Friday's? Coincidence? I think not. Davinci had something there - loaves and fishes, teach a man to fish? There's a reason the NY Times is called fishwrap. Think about it...OK, that's enough.
No! I think it mother's milk!
Rhombus, you're cracking me up! Are you really Ali G in disguise?
I am the Eggman. Expert texpert, chocking smokers, don't you think the joker laughs at you?
You're on a roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Have you been hitting the sauce early, my friend?
I wish. I guess it's just a contact high. :-) Time to go back to monitoring the GWOT.
How many heroin users have drunk milk? Probably close to 100%. There must be some cause/effect relationship there too.
An additional factor could be that the person who's selling the pot smoker his illegal marijuana can make more money selling him a harder illegal drug like heroin or cocaine.
Then any implication that using pot makes you more likely to want to try harder drugs is misinformation. The inclination is already there, and the pot use is simply an indicator.
What's the going rate for a reasonable user's supply of heroin or coke?
I have no idea.
Then why did you make that assumption?
Do you think I'm wrong in thinking that there's more profit in selling heroin and cocaine than in pot?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.