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Is Marijuana a Gateway to Harder Drugs ?
Posted by gerryPlanetEarth • 10/17/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Marijuana
Does smoking Marijuana lead to the use of Crack/Cocaine, Crystal Meth or Heroin etc. ?
this discussion is also posted in the Marijuana/Hemp Group
www.blogcatalog.com/group/marijuanahemp/
User Comments
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if marijuana is a gateway to other drugs then cigarretes are a gateway to marijuana.-
Yessss! I agree with this!
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no
i know um this guy who's totally not me and he smoked weed but never did anything else except vallium once and by accident once pcp-lace pot once.
now he's a blogging superstar-
lol
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I think maryjane is gateway drug for youngsters who don't appreciate weed. I know "someone" whose been smoking dope for sometime (when he/she was 21) and never had any interest to try anything harder. -
I think in a way it can be because if you've never smoked pot before you would probably be more nervous about trying other drugs than if you have smoked pot. That doesn't mean that it will make you want to try other drugs though. -
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Our hearts go out to you and your family regarding the loss of your son may he rest in peace....
Although I have not lost any family members because of drug use I have lost a few childhood friends whose deaths were caused by drug overdose....
The one childhood friend first started smoking cigarettes, second drinking alcohol, third smoking marijuana, third snorting cocaine, fourth smoking crack/cocaine...He became highly addicted to crack cocaine and spent every penny he had or could get on crack and finally died alone from a cocaine overdose/seizure....His funeral was a sad reunion for his childhood friends...
The second friend did not smoke cigarrettes, drink alcohol or smoke marijuana...In his early twenties he moved to a city where there was a lot of heroin use, fell in love with a girl who was a heroin addict and apparently died of a heroin overdose in his early thirties....
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Just so you guys know I have a disorder called Depersonalization/derealization due to smoking weed that most people don't know about. It makes me lose feeling of my body and I feel like i'm high out of nowhere. There is a strong link to this disorder & smoking pot. If you want to know more about it you can go to this website:
www.dpselfhelp.com/
I'm sorry about your loss acousticguitarist-
thanks for posting crystal -
Interesting site crystal, I think I know a few friends of mine who could benefit from that site as well. I believe if weed is illegal, so should alcohol and cigarettes - they cause far too many deaths.
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It's only a "gateway" drug because of the fact that's illegal so to buy it you have to go to a drug dealer, who naturally will have other drugs to push onto you.
I think if it was legally available this wouldn't be an issue, as I don't believe anyone would say alcohol was a "gateway" drug.-
Some people particularly those involved in the promotion and maintenance of drug rehabilitation programs argue that cigarrettes, alcohol and marijuana are most often common denominators as gateways for the people they have treated....
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Yes, yes indeed. Absolutely. I feel for you Crystal how can you recover from that? There are so many options and supports out there for mental health issues. Best wishes to you. -
Only if you inhale
I started doing drugs when I was 12, Seconals and Tuinals, Trips, etc and started smoking when I was 19, go figure with ADD everything in my life is backwards.
As for the question, the only gateway to harder drugs is your own mind. If you don't want to do them then don't, weed won't make you want to stand on cold corners with 10 bucks looking for a dime bag. It would more likely make you look for a Burger King or something. -
Marijuana is the gateway to freedom of the mind-
hes absolutely right because, marijuana is a plant created by nature/god, who are we to as men to call a herb a drug or to define a drug
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No take away pot and all thats left is hard drugs so everyone would be hooked on hard stuff. Smoking pot helps slow down the time it takes to do hard stuff take that away and what is left. -
I can only speak from my own experience. I smoked for 33 years. The only reason I quit was because my job now does random drug tests. I have had the same job for 27 years. I do not drink (anymore that got old real quick)I have had some argue that pot is addictive and I can only say that I just quit. Just like that. I agree that you are the one who has the control over doing harder drugs. If you have addictive personality and are running from something then drugs are an escape. Course you might not like where you escaped to. -
Hi, I am a student of Social anthropology and there is in fact a very popular theory called "THE GATEWAY THEORY" or also called the "STEPPING THEORY", that says that cannabis (marihuana) use in adolescence leads to the use of other hard drugs. But research has demonstrated that ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE THAT USED CANNABIS WILL USE HEROIN. Research has also shown that the use of cannabis usually decline in early adulthood (though I see "ettarose" above belongs to the minority group that still smoke cannabis when adults).
Also there are a number of factors that make a person to abuse drugs and become an addict later. It seems that teenagers within a stable family environment will not be affected by friends who do drugs, they may try but getting into drugs is another thing. So family settings and personality are crucial factors to me.
LOL, Monica.-
sorry wrong section this reply is bleow
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So sorry to hear about the lose of your son. Hope you and family are getting better and feel that life is still beautiful. Monica.
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btw - marijuana can trigger schitzo characteristics in people who HAVE those characteristics already - it is NOT the cause of it. the only reason hydroponic marijuana seems to have a more severe effect is that the THC content of hydro is generally a LOT higher due to its micromanaged growth (it's GROWN to be stronger). -
14 year olds in 50 year old bodies
~~~~~~~for children are the gates to heaven open~~~~~~~~~
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Acoustic, I'm so sorry to hear about your son.
I believe for a majority of people, it is a "gateway drug"...for various reasons. I've never tried any type of drugs, because addiction is very common in my family. I never wanted to take the chance. I believe that if I had ever tried it, it definitely would have led to other things, simply because I have a tendency toward addictive behavior. -
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most of the most beautiful music has been created my people who do and did drugs
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I think it is more about personality type and that marijuana is the most widely available and socially acceptable drug. If you have the inclination you’ll try what’s most widely available. -
I did the drugs thing when I was younger. In the eighties you could buy speed outside the school Gates for £5, and Ganja was readily available at a reasonable price.
I was a mild user, and enjoyed how it made me feel, though I never became dependent, and quit long ago when I just sort of outgrew it. I tried coke at a later date and again decided I didn't need drugs to give me a buzz, so I walked away from the whole scene.
I've seen friends move on from spliffs to coke to needles, and lost some of them along the way. I watched one of them die after sniffing glue, and I'll never forget just how uncool and undignified it was as a scene. Equally, I've lost more friends to drink and cigarettes than I have to 'illegal' substances, so I believe like everything in life, there is a perspective. -
Very short and simple answer is no.
I smoke weed on a daily basis and I'm still a nice guy. I pop ecstasy now and then but it wasn't because weed led me to it. It's because I feel like it. Weed isn't making little people pop up on my shoulders telling me to smoke crack or drop acid and pretend I can fly. -
I'm not a drug user and would discourage the practice, regardless of your drug of choice. Having said that I also think the arguments about marijuana being a "gateway drug" are ridiculous. It's a bit like saying that driving causes car accidents.
Obviously if no one drove there would be no accidents, however, some people drive an entire life time and never have an accident, others have an accident once a month.
As is the case with marijuana use, some who use it will go on to use other drugs, statistically however most will not. There is a definite risk to those seeking something from drugs, but this has always been the case.
Alcoholism is a perfect example of the abuse of a legally available drug. Do some alcoholics also go on to use hard drugs - certainly. Does that also mean that alcohol is a also a gateway drug - of course not.
And as a side note, I make homemade wine in my basement, too!
Marijuana has been vilified and demonized to a point of being silly. However I would be a hypocrite if I didn't also point out that while being relatively benign it's not harmless, especially if used routinely, just like tobacco or alcohol.
However I agree with may posts here that, marijuana is not a gateway drug.-
nice response, some logic in it
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If you look at abuse of prescription drugs and consider the possibilities of alcohol addiction, it seems to me marijuana is a drop in the bucket. I've never understood why it was made illegal to begin with. I'm not advocating drug use, but in my opinion, a person with problems will find a way to numb his or her mind to those problems. At least that's how I explain my own father's alcoholism. Frankly, my family would've been far calmer had my dad just smoked a lot of weed. In my humble opinion. best, Kay -
I dunno about harder drugs, but it sometimes seems to facilitate some questionable threads on BC.
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Wow, it's like I stepped into a time machine and went back to the year 1986, turned on the tv and sat down for a few hours. -
It is all about personality type. I have known people that have smoked pot for 25 years and did nothing else. I have also known people that have smoked it and also did every single other drug that was ever put in front of them. -
in my mind it all depends on how you treat marijuana - if you look at it as a gentle medicine, as a socially acceptable thing for adults to partake in, and as something to teach your kid about as such, no way it's not a gateway drug. take the mystery and "badness" out of it. it's a plant.
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Excellent Point Faerwear...
There have actually been studies completed in all the States that allow Medical Marijuana since 1996. All of these states have seen a drastic decline in Teen Marijuana Use. These teens are seeing Marijuana as a medication and not as a recreational rebelious act.
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Not only do I think that it doesn't lead to harder drugs, but it doesn't even lead to habitual use, unless the user themselves have an actual problem with addiction in general. (Drugs, smoking, caffeine, gambling you name it, they can get addicted to it).
I smoked pot a plenty in high school. I am not on harder drugs, and I never was. I don't even smoke it now. Now I'm not going to say that I haven't met some burnouts in my life - because I have - but none of them went on to be crack heads.
No, I think that pot smoking often goes along with harder drugs, but the use of harder drugs in and of itself happen with or without the use of pot, with or without he use of alcohol, and furthermore require the habitual use of said harder drugs by the person. So even if you did accidentally use a hard drug when you were high or drunk - it doesn't mean you'll automatically become a crack head. you have to use it the stuff more than once....
It's not like people who've smoked a joint all of a sudden feel the need to do an 8 ball because the weed high wasn't good enough. Those drugs aren't even in the same ballpark, meaning one is speed, and one is a barbiturate. -
I'm getting hungry -
I don't think MJ is a gateway drug. Of course this doesn't mean I wouldn't lose it if I caught my kid smoking it.-
y dont u just try smokin it with the kid
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LOL. After a stern lecture on being responsible no less!!
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The only effect exists because it is illegal. You have to go to drug dealers who might be selling other illicit drugs. Once you've made contact in the underworld, it is that much easier to get access to other things.
If it was sold legally, it would be as much a gateway drug as beer because that link would be broken. -
i would wager to say that as someone with some VERY close experience with "hydro dope" (*snicker*) i'm not "far off the mark" at all.
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MJ is the gateway to random acts of munching down junk food, slowing down and some who smoke the flowers often move onto other substances....one of the regulars at flowers has MS and tokes everyday for that reason...
Oh he likes Clapton as well.-
Nonetheless like anything else there are downsides to smoking marijuana as illustrated by the tragic death of acousticguitar's son whom our sincere hearts and condolences go out to...
The pompous medical community most times does not bother to recognize the dangerous conflict that exists between the anti-phsycotic drugs they precribe so casually(a doctor talksto/examines a patient for a few minutes,precribes anti-phsycotic drugs and charges hundreds of dollars...A monopoly drug company on the basis of collusion with government charges thousands for substances that cost pennies to manufacture and have the audacity to avoid taxes by the research of torturing animals ala mengele for silly reasons that produce no benefit)and the patient who smokes marijuana while on these anti-phsycotic drugs...There is a synergy elevation effect that makes the patient's condition dramatically worse...
More times than not what these patients really need is sincere mentoring and/or a change in environment...Not anti-phsycotic drugs...
Regarding gateways I do not think marijuana is a gateway to heroin and needle drug usage...sure 99.9 per cent of heroin users smoked marijuna(the anti-marijuna interests' promote this as a reason for their conduct in jailing marijuana smokers and growers and stealing their property)but what is never mentioned in that rhetoric is that 99.9 per cent of marijuana smokers have not and have no intention of using heroin and needle drugs...
I'm not sure if the same holds true for crack, crystal meth, extacy,mushrooms and acid...
Many marijuana smokers whose lives have not been ruined by their smoking are easy prey for the vultures who knowingly peddle the severely addictive drugs such as crack and crystal meth because of their over confidence in their ability to handle addictive substances... -
Not fer nothin' but many pot dealers don't actually deal with other, harder drugs. I for one have yet to meet a pot dealer that pushes crystal meth, heroine or crack. There are of course dealers that deal with hard drugs that also sell pot as a side drug - but pot heads aren't going to them for their dime bags, for the most part.
But you do raise a good point about the medical community, and the hard drugs they legally push on their patients. Anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, pain relievers, pain killers, muscle relaxants etc....all are addictive, all have harsh side effects, and all of them pose serious risks when mixed with any other drugs, legal or not.
AND patients who become addicted to certain, temporary prescription drugs are more likely to end up using harder, illegal or illegally obtained drugs. Or engage in the dangerous mixing of script and recreational drugs.
So really, why does everyone bash pot when hard drugs are being pushed on us daily by our doctors?
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So you'd include coffee in that then?
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Not in my opinion. -
hmmmm ... I wonder if feeding your kids too many Ding Dongs and MacDonald's lunches is the gateway to obesity ...
that crap that passes as food, plus low self esteem could cause them to eat themselves into diabetes, stroke, heart attacks ... yada, yada, yada ... -
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Acoustic, I do want to say that you are going the wrong way on a one way street. The question is not how many people that use Hard drugs have smoked Marijuana, but How many Marijuana smokers have used the harder drugs. Like you said, times may have changed but I have only used Marijuana (min 3 times a day for 2 years straight) I quit cold turkey when I was told my company was going to do random drug testing. Now that I am disabled I do Harder Drugs... Drugs that are perscribed to me. I have been know to take Marijuana instead (at small amounts) because I want a day of relief of my pain and without side effects. I will agree that abuse of any drug is dangerous and can be a show stopper, but I know people that go to drug dealers for Hydrocordone because the doctor didn't refil the perscription. I know people that have OD on Oxycotin because they took more than the perscription said.
The only reason Marijuana is a gateway to me is because my doctor, who recomends Marijuana, can not perscribe it to me legally so he gives me harder drugs.
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"So really, why does everyone bash pot when hard drugs are being pushed on us daily by our doctors?"
IMHO you are right on, Anok and gerryPlanetEarth
I know many people who started smoking marijuana and never moved up to any other drugs at all. In fact, they quit smoking both cigarettes and grass. -
Guns and knives do not kill people - some of those who use them do. And, the same can be said of drugs. Your son died because he made bad choices.
Grieving is a process that has both a beginning and an end. Perhaps the time has come for you to grieve your son' choice to do drugs. After that you may be better equipped to get on with your life. -
"I think to experiment IS normal..but it doesn't work well for everyone"
I agree. -
The marijuana is a plant, to name drog! The cigarette is plant, to name drog! The caffe is plant, to name drog! Bla-bla-bla...
Not gateway other drogs!
Have a nice day!!! -
why, because the majority here seem to believe the answer is "no"?
(btw, i agree with the poster who said playing with a stoned musician can be a nightmare - at least if you want to accomplish anything - if you just want to zone out for 4 hours, well... i wouldn't know. my musical instrument "goes to pot" if i smoke and i cannot sing worth a damn.
incidentally, i had to have a drug test today, so that i could potentially perform a temporary data entry position (yes, company policy). i passed.
finally... i'm 34 years old, myself, and happy to say i haven't grown up, either, at least in some ways. i'm still a dreamer. now i just work my ass off to make sure i can stay that way. -
Thumbs up faerwear - I've been working my ass off to remain a dreamer for decades now. :-)
@acousticguitarist
I do not wish to be unkind but it's ludicrous to try and shift the responsibility away from your son and the choices he made to someone or something else. He made wrong choices and he paid the ultimate price for doing so.
We are being lame (consider the word blame and it's true meaning)when we don't accept the truth about where responsibility lays and move on.
Please, please go into grief counseling so you can process your emotions in a way that leads to healing. And please accept my sincere best wishes for a full recovery and a happy rest of your life.-
Thankyou kindly for your post.
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No. Those that use hard drugs have done weed. But those that randomly shoot people may well have owned an air-rifle as a kid. Having an air-rifle as a kid, however, did not make said individual a nut-case murderer.
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