MJ a gateway drug? My hypothesis.

Ever since childhood, DARE programs and teachings taught me that marijuana was the gateway drug to other 'hard' drugs. The teachings were basically scare tactics saying that alcohol and marijuana were almost controlling us and could destroy the our lives. Growing up in a conservative environment, my parental influences affirmed my lessons. I was scared, and stayed away from anything beyond alcohol until my early twenties.

Without much thought of marijuana, or any other substances, until my medical introduction to marijuana for ADHD, I had always kind of shrugged off the idea of anything being a precursor to a 'harder' drug. I didn't believe or deny any evidence of ideas that this was true.

After some thought on the subject, I have come to realize that, perceptively, marijuana CAN be a gateway drug. Not for the same addictive terrorizing reasons that were attempted to be ingrained into me during my youth, but for alternative reasons as follows.

Now that I know the truth of marijuana and it's uses, though use and aide; that it is NOT a horrible drug that can ruin your life, but the fact that I was lied to about it in the first place. Realizing this has opened my mind to trying other opiates or psychedelics just based on curiosity that I need to find out for myself and make my own discoveries. "If marijuana can be helpful in many regards and what they said were lies, what else did they deceive me in?" (they failed with the toothfairy too)

By not teaching the truth, how many adolescents will make this discovery on their own? If they already tried marijuana with mental openness, OF COURSE they are going to have the openness to move on and try other drugs.

I'm not saying this is a case for everyone. I believe that every individual is different and will make their own case for this matter. And if the person is mentally healthy, not chasing an alternative to reality or escape life problems, this can be a viable reason for making the jump.

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Mod: Please freely move this to an appropriate sub forum if necessary
Blades: Please feel free to comment, argue and or criticize
Me: I believe we are 95% a product of our environment, and I have spent the last ten years of my life, making my life the product of me. I am a 28 yr old liberal atheist male and a child of conservative republican parents. Thanks!

Note: This does in no way reflect on addiction. I think that is a completely different subject.

This sounds very possible. I only try new stuff out of curiosity (never hardcore ones).

I am generally open to anything. I won't do anything that rhymes with mandolin or breath. Mainly because I've seen a couple friends lives ruined. I wouldn't ever use a needle for anything unless it's administered by an RN in a controlled sterile environment.

Edited by 2Genesis, 10 August 2012 - 12:52 AM.
unmentionable drugs?

I am generally open to anything. I won't do heroin or meth. Mainly because I've seen a couple friends lives ruined. I wouldn't ever use a needle for anything unless it's administered by an RN in a controlled sterile environment.

might wanna mark those unmentionables out

Edited by Fly Guy, 10 August 2012 - 12:51 AM.

<--- Might've skipped a section or two in the TOS.

<--- Might've skipped a section or two in the TOS.

lol it's cool bro!

Yeah after my tolerance got really high and I couldn't get close to that trippy high I used to get from weed I considered doing harder drugs. But I haven't and don't plan to. But I have been drinking a lot more lately and thats Definetely a "harder drug" but I drank before I smoked. Same day actually.

Yeah after my tolerance got really high and I couldn't get close to that trippy high I used to get from weed I considered doing harder drugs. But I haven't and don't plan to. But I have been drinking a lot more lately and thats Definetely a "harder drug" but I drank before I smoked. Same day actually.

I think the initial euphoric high from a beginner smoker is sought through other drugs because pot smokers develop a rapid tolerance due to constant use. I found through some research that this is commonplace in alternative drug use as well.

Personally, I found that monthly tolerance breaks helps. Also, different intakes such as edibles, tinctures and concentrates can help keep things in check too.

If I want to get high instead of medicate, I'll have a few beverages to get a good buzz followed with a bowl. The high is stronger and typically last longer.

I only smoke cigarettes and marijuana and drink a bit the drinking started before cigarettes or marijuana so in a way I went down to less harder drugs. The only thing I want to try now which is still marijuana is hash.

Yeah, I definitely agree that it has made me open-minded to new experiences and curious about such things.

In that sense, it could be considered a 'gateway drug.' However, the original theory has been disproved. The reasoning is that marijuana is one of the most popular drugs in the world. Therefore, it would make sense that those who use harder drugs have also used cannabis.

My theory that the people who go on to use harder drugs have a predetermined decision, whether it's conscious or subconscious, to use harder drugs. I believe that some people are somewhat destined to go down the road of hard drugs, due to some sort of emotional trauma or grew up in bad family conditions that taught them that hard drugs aren't that bad. I think anyone who would later go on to try harder drugs use cannabis as a way to dip their toe in the cold waters of harder drugs, just to affirm themselves that hard drugs aren't that bad, because marijuana isn't bad. That state of mind that thinks that hard drugs aren't bad, is reinforced and is filled with delusional logic because the government says that marijuana is as bad as heroin, and since marijuana isn't really that bad at all (and it's as bad as heroin) then heroin isn't that bad at all.

I agree with marijuana opening me up to the idea of other drugs. I definitely want to try some psychs at some point but I'll never touch a pharmaceutical or anything cooked with chemicals in a basement. I know that marijuana and psychs (in moderation) will not harm me and that's all I really care about.

I have my own theory on alcohol being more of a gateway drug than marijuana. I know I got drunk 2-3 years before I smoked and highly doubt I would have smoked if I had never gotten drunk. I feel like that's common for most people. Maybe I should start a poll.

That actually makes a lot of sense. You can hardly trust the things that D.A.R.E. or Above the Influence says because, well, they make up a lot of their 'facts'.

Well yeah. It doesnt make you fiend for other drugs, but its certainly a good gateway into doing them!

its not marijuanas fault. Anything intoxicating opens the door to wanting to try other intoxicants, weed just happens to be the thing most people try first

My theory that the people who go on to use harder drugs have a predetermined decision, whether it's conscious or subconscious, to use harder drugs. I believe that some people are somewhat destined to go down the road of hard drugs, due to some sort of emotional trauma or grew up in bad family conditions that taught them that hard drugs aren't that bad. I think anyone who would later go on to try harder drugs use cannabis as a way to dip their toe in the cold waters of harder drugs, just to affirm themselves that hard drugs aren't that bad, because marijuana isn't bad. That state of mind that thinks that hard drugs aren't bad, is reinforced and is filled with delusional logic because the government says that marijuana is as bad as heroin, and since marijuana isn't really that bad at all (and it's as bad as heroin) then heroin isn't that bad at all.

Or they're just interested in different drugs and states of mind such as myself.

And as long as they do the appropriate research whats the problem with that?

It doesn't mean they came from a broken home. Not at all.

All I use now are bud, psychedelics and alcohol (no better that H honestly, in terms of addiction and physical damage). I've done all of the main "hard" drugs you could think of and weed certainly wasn't the first drug I used.

Shit, gotta start somewhere

Nah, this is wrong. The vast majority of people drink alcohol before they've smoked weed.

what's the gateway drug now?

Weed won't pull you to other drugs, as long as you have common sense and basic knowledge. We all know weed isn't as bad as everyone usually puts an extent on it, but we all know that other unmentionables that are made un naturally/man made/ non plant are horrible for you, you could possibly OD on them and they can totally mess with your life style.

The government is very responsible for killing a number of kids, and causing serious damage to a number of bodies, by perpetuating the myth and lie that cannabis is 'just as bad' as many, much harder substances....



The incredibly unrealistic picture they've painted, is what creates the gateway, to those harder substances.



It's easier to kill yourself with potatoes, water, and sugar, than it is with cannabis (and even some natural, unmentionable softer-drugs )



And yet, there cannabis sits... on a list created by people who WE PAY to protect us and to protect our children, it sits right in the middle hard drugs that can kill you with a mouthful, or that can kill and damage your body, even in amounts painfully close to the 'recreational/therapeutic' dose.



If you over-consume cannabis you're not going to be poisoned... it is less toxic than many of the items on your grocery store shelf.



In very-high doses, some cannabinoids and several of the 120 terpenes behave as some of the safest emetics known to mankind, via the same mechanisms that they peak hunger, when increased, they can trigger a gag-reflex and vomiting, and where in high doses they can also speed intestinal flushing, you're going to throw-up or 'evacuate' from the other end, before you can burst any organs or before you can suffer from an electrolyte imbalance (which is what happens when people overdose on simple water after their guts lock up on them).




It's why people die from water intoxication/poisoning every year, and yet no one has ever died from over consumption of cannabis, even though so many people strive for that 'epic brownie high'.




If you were to attempt the drink a ton of canna oil, the cooking oil you used to make it could potentiall kill you, long, long before the cannabinoids could.. in fact, the canna content would likely be your saving grace, due to the reasons mentioned above.




Keeping it scheduled the way they have, and lying about its safety, makes the kids who actually try cannabis suddenly realize their authority figures may be lying, or at the very least may be stretching the truth, so they think;



"OK, this weed is nothing and they made a huge deal out of it, therefor m*** and h***** must be just as tame, non-addictive, and non-lethal."



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In a way, placing cannabis in the same category with other drugs, and listing it as producing the same 'sensations' and 'consequences' as harder substances, creates almost the EXACT same scenario or principle that websites like facebook, ebay and Amazon, often rely on and use to advertise to you...


"If you like cannabis, then you'll LOVE, *****!"


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Instead of being at least a LITTLE bit accurate (sometimes I DO see things on Amazon that I may like, or I've been meaning to buy or try, after making a related purchase), the government is psychologically DECEIVING those people who have tried cannabis, into believing other drugs may be just as tame or good.




That's how the human brain works, when faced with categorization.



We think we'll like things, that are placed in a similar category to something we already like, and alternately we think we'll dislike something if it's in a category, with items that we've already tested and know we don't care for.



For instance, many people automatically dislike weed, with an enormous amount of bias, because their ex-gf/bf was a, "h*****-addict".



We know that weed is completely unrelated to an addiction to harder drugs... but it's still connected to harder drugs in the minds of those people, with nothing else to rely on, aside from the information they are given.



They make these connections, for the same reason that, after actually trying weed, some children and adults choose to move on to trying other drugs.


It's all about government labeling and categorization.




Many children don't even understand the true dangers of alcohol poisoning, and yet they have all these lies about cannabis shoved down their throats.


Well, alcohol is 'legal', so it must be 'much safer', they think. Now, cue the stomach pumps, the failing livers and kidneys, the mushy brains and forgotten months.


Some of those very same consequences have been attached to cannabis over the years, by our 'betters', even though there has never been so much as a single documented case or connection... and yet alcohol and its connection to bodily damage, is well-documented, and it is kept legal.


This alone, is highly bewildering, and yet very convincing to the general population which believes in whatever it is spoon-fed.



The government, or rather their prohibition and incredibly unrealistic propaganda, are responsible for the gateway theory.


Banning something tame, demonizes it, and increases your likelihood of trying similarly categorized substances after you learn it's not the devil they said it was...


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Imagine for instance, banning mangoes for mycerene, or lemons for the limonene they contain; these are healthy, natural, flavorful and nice-smelling terpenes, which these and other fruits and plants share with cannabis, and when concentrated or used in a variety of ways, can produce sedation, elation, numbness, cerebral highs, and several of the very same 'fun recreational' and 'valuable medicinal' effects, we seek from our canna.


Just as they can be used for both medicinal and recreational sensations, cannabis alternately, when used in certain ways, can produce little to no 'recreational' sensations.


Eaten fresh and raw, and full of inactive cannabinoids, it can provide you with incredibly valuable non-narcotic medicinal benefits, and even nutrition in the form of fiber, protein and an array of vitamins and minerals.



As it stands, mangoes and lemons are not 'gateway drugs'.. but if they were banned due to these properties, then they would become gateway drugs via the system that the government has set in place.



Those fruits, and many others, would suddenly have a biased and an unrealistic sense of danger and taboo applied to their use, just like cannabis, and that would give the average person the impression they were just as harmful as any other banned substance listed in the same category.



If people were told they were as bad as other 'drugs', and if they had to buy their favorite fruits from dealers, they would be exposed to more hazardous products.


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Which brings us to sourcing/buying cannabis...


If kids didn't have to buy their weed from street dealers who also sell hard drugs, they wouldn't have the nearly the same opportunity or temptation to try them.

Some dealers even lie about being out of weed, just so they can try and hook their customers on harder stuff 'for free' while they wait for their next hookup. If the kid says no thanks, suddenly, the guy remembers he has a bag he can sell.





The government is 100% responsible for the gateway theory and its mechanism.... not cannabis.



Anyhow, I've rambled on long enough... sorry 'bout that!


The whole gateway theory just riles me right up