is bud really a gateway drug?? Let’s be honest. I don’t think so I think it’s about the person. Cigarettes and alcohol can be considered gateway as well. Cuz once I started hanging out (high school) with people who smoked cigarettes then came the alcohol. Then came the weed then the pills. But I was always afraid of pills so I never got into it even tho my friends did. I think it depends on the person. Talk to me yall
My friends introduced me to smoking water pipes. They always spun it up and I was addicted to cigs in no time. I never wanted to start smoking tobacco but I wanted to try weed. Weed was the gateway drug that introduced me to the worst substance I use - tobacco. I'm trying to stick with my vapes.
Suger introduced me to salt, which introduced me to coffee, which introduced me tobacco, which introduced me to weed. Everything is a gateway, just depends where you start
I have no desire to do any of the hard drugs out there and likely I never ever will.It's really just the person and their desire to remain high, the more they smoke the more their tolerance builds up so some turn to hard drugs.
Some are curious to see what it does. Suppose if others fully grasped the damage to the brain some substances caused, they would stray. Others will rationalize however they can
I don’t have a proper answer but I know that weed didn’t lead me to pain pills, the medical community did. I only smoke weed now tho. And that dam coffee and cigs. Oh, and chocolate, can’t forget that. Gambling, oh jeez. Porn. Diet sodas, oh my how I love those. And cool weed forums.
The entire idea of any gateway drug is just ignorant bullshit. It is hard to believe that people are still debating the matter. Correlation and causation are two completely different things. The whole premise of the existence of gateway drugs is based on correlation. It does absolutely nothing to prove causation. It is like saying that if 90% of the people who use cannabis also drank milk prior to using cannabis the first time, milk is a gateway drug.
The real "gateway" is the multi-drug dealer! The dealer will always be trying to steer you toward the more addictive drugs, to make you a steady (addicted) customer! And there is no quality control- your new drug could be cut with battery acid! At a legal dispensary all you find is (clean, tested) cannabis. No one is tempting you to "try some of this, it's even better". I have used cannabis for over 50 years (I'm 72). Both of my parents were alcoholics, so "addictive personalities R us"! When my mom died, I "fell in the bottle" for 3 years. Cannabis got me out of it! So you might even say cannabis is the gateway OUT of addiction! Over the past year, I have had exactly 2 sips of wine, and there is usually wine in the house (my adult sons like it). And a lot of people are like me, having used cannabis to get out of an addiction! “Consistent with other observational studies, approximately 80% reported substituting cannabis for traditional pain medications (53% for opioids, 22% for benzodiazepines), citing fewer side effects and better symptom management as their rationale for doing so.” Pills to Pot: Observational Analyses of Cannabis Substitution Among Medical Cannabis Users With Chronic Pain. (abst – 2019) https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(18)30735-1/fulltext Then there is this one- Substituting cannabis for prescription drugs, alcohol and other substances among medical cannabis patients: The impact of contextual factors. (abst – 2015) Substituting cannabis for prescription drugs, alcohol and other substances among medical cannabis patients: The impact of contextual factors. - PubMed - NCBI “Substituting cannabis for one or more of alcohol, illicit drugs or prescription drugs was reported by 87% (n = 410) of respondents, with 80.3% reporting substitution for prescription drugs, 51.7% for alcohol, and 32.6% for illicit substances.” Oaklanders Quitting Oxycontin with Cannabis. (news - 2010) Oaklanders Quitting Oxycontin with Cannabis Is Marijuana an 'Exit Drug'? Study Suggests Some Are Taking It as a Substitute for Prescription Drugs and Alcohol. (news – 2012) Is Marijuana an ‘Exit Drug’? Study Suggests Some Are Taking It as a Substitute for Prescription Drugs and Alcohol – Alternet.org Can Marijuana Help You Quit Cigarettes? Study Says Yes. (news – 2013) Can Marijuana Help You Quit Cigarettes? Study Says Yes - Leaf Science In States With Medical Marijuana, Painkiller Deaths Drop by 25 Percent. (news – 2014) https://www.newsweek.com/states-medical-marijuana-painkiller-deaths-drop-25-266577 Ex-Bear Jim McMahon: Medical marijuana got me off narcotic pain pills. (news – 2016) https://www.chicagotribune.com/news...hon-medical-marijuana-met-20160128-story.html Could marijuana be a gateway out of drug addiction? (news – 2017) https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/mar/29/could-marijuana-be-a-gateway-out-for-drug-addicts/ Where Marijuana Is Legal, Opioid Prescriptions Fall. (news – 2018) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-marijuana-is-legal-opioid-prescriptions-fall/ Study: Patients Frequently Substitute Medical Marijuana In Place Of Other Controlled Substances. (news – 2019) https://www.weednews.co/study-patie...uana-in-place-of-other-controlled-substances/ Granny
You deserve an “Informative” for that post too @Storm Crow. Weed made shaking nearly a decades worth of pain meds a hell of a lot easier. Any Prohibitionist who wants to argue that one is wasting their time as far as I’m concerned.
If you don't want to be crackhead don't smoke crack! Smoking weed has never given me a taste for anything but good food and more weed
First drug i ever did was uh magical. LOOOONG ago. Never even planned on it or had any intention on it, but hanging out with friends and being offered didn't turn it down.
Was it the first "drug" I tried.........yeah..........did it "lead me to other stuff"..........no..............I don't think so.
I think 'gateway drug' is sort of a red herring. There are no gateway drugs. But there are plenty of people who are biologically more prone to habituation and addiction, and there's a lot of medical evidence showing that the real gateway drug is brain chemistry itself. The same endorphin rush that motivates people to use drugs occurs in people doing video games, sports, gambling, stage performance, running, transcendental meditation and a whole slew of other performance oriented activities other than drug usage itself. It's just some people are more entranced by it than others -- that is to say, their brains are more effective at/affected by endorphin production.
Ya either have a weak mind or ya don't. Can be changed either way. Neuroplasticity Or lose awareness / rationalize what's going on
Both of my parents are addicts. My.mother lost her battle to the big H a few years ago. I've done harder stuff than weed out of curiosity. Weed will always be my jam. I don't care for the harder stuff.
Well.. The first time I got "high" was something my dad told me "Don't smell this or it will get you high", so ofcourse I did, and he wasn't wrong.. So weed as MY gateway? Hell no.. Damn good thing I only tried smelling stuff my dad told me not to a couple times, maybe weed saved me.. Without weed maybe I'd be a junkie huffing duster and gasoline..
Imo the whole deal with weed being a gateway drug has to do with the fact that it has been illegal. Since weed was illegal it got me into the negative habits of sneaking around, going to find a weed man, and all the other bullshit that came with weed being illegal. Me personally I did move on to hard drugs and I can tell you it wasnt that amazing hit of weed that made me so high I wanted more. Lol it was more of once I found the weed dealer he started to have other shit hence the weed being the gateway to the drug dealer, now if I did not have to sneak around and put myself in situations to meet these negative people there is a good possibility I never would have found that crowd of people. My vote is for no weed is not a gateway drug.