Gateway theory

i believe it's a gateway. doesn't mean shit. some people stay with dro forever, some people fuck with it and get sick and go sober, some people move on, some people just dabble a little in everything.

 

It totally was a gateway for me... weed -> shrooms -> LSD -> ?

 

you can't really use that as a fact, because it's not a controlled number of people, i'm sure more people drink and smoke cigarettes than people do a lot of hardcore illegal drugs.

so of course more people would die from alcohol and cigarettes because more people use them.

 

the gateway theory is an opinon. its diff for everyone. i have friends who ONLY smoke weed and drink. ONLY that and nothing else. i also have friends that smoke weed, drink, do acid, shrooms, e, mda, heroin, and coke. jeez, but its just how YOU are. if your the type of person that has always wanted to explore the dark cave you found as a kid, or the one that wanted to do a wheelie on the bike before his friend then you most likely are the type that will think of trying other things, but i myself was this kid.

i myself have tried weed, drinking, cigs, about 5 diff pills, 3 times acid, 1 time shrooms, 3 times mda, and so much more shit i never thought i would do. but thats just how i was as a kid, always wanting to try shit before the rest. always ahead.


but anyway IMO the gateway theory is an opinion and only matters based on the people. but i dont regret doing any of the drugs i did. they have all made me into who i am today and i am more than proud of who i am.

 

same shit here. i sparked curiosity through trying weed on april 9th 2008 and then continued onto finding erowid, which led me to learning about the TRUTH about lsd, shrooms, mda, pills, and EVERYTHING. erowid is the pure most godly piece of equiptment this world has ever seen, just kidding, but its the best site to not wake up dead or have a bad trip!

 

Awesome point. It wouldn't be considered any more a gateway drug than alcohol is.

But I will say that there is some merit to the gateway theory. If we weren't able to build a tolerance to marijuana, I think a lot more people would never make the move into harder drugs. Either way, it's something that you control. Smoking weed doesn't mean that you're going to become addicted to heroin, it's all about what you are willing to do.

 

I know most people go from weed to wanting a more trippy experience. I mean lsd and psylocibin aren't addictive, right? I used to be kind of a tripper myself, but I think those non-addictive, mind expanding hallucenagens are harder on your body and brain than addictive substances that you can od on like coke or opiates.

shrooms are horrible for your liver and kill alot of brain cells.

maybe I'm wrong.

 

The whole 'gateway theory' aside from the effects of a black market is a good example of confusing correlation with causation. There is a correllation because certain personality types are more prone to experimenting with drugs, but there is no causation between smoking cannabis and using other drugs.

 

Weed is not a gateway drug,the feeling it gives u is. First high is wonderful and takes barely any weed to get ya there eventually months and months of everyday smoking It takes more and more to get to that inital high,& possibly leads to trying newer thing to get to that high. For example U smoke 1 oz of weed to get u to ur High,But u could purchase 1/8 of shrooms which has the same effects. So really its come down to money cost in the end lol. Cheaper things, with the same or better results.

 

The high from an eight of shrooms is very different that the high one would acheive from smoking an ounce.....i think

 

Meh, I don't buy into the whole 'weed leads to speed' way of thinking. I'm a weed smoker, I've done mushrooms twice a few years ago at uni. That's about it as far as my drug usage goes.

Surely admitting that weed is a gateway drug is tantamount to it being 'better' than other, harder drugs? Once it is legalised, the propaganda merchants will have to move on to something different. I wonder what %age of people who smoke weed have gone onto harder drug usage? (And by usage, I mean using harder drugs at a regular frequency, much as with weed.)

 

What you're describing is the definition of a gateway drug...

 

Gateway drug my ass, more like anti gateway drug.

Got me of smoking, which patches failed to do.

Haven't had a smoke for around 3 weeks now since I started not mixing my bud with tobacco.

I don't drink anymore, I don't smoke anymore, And I refuse to take any other "drugs".

 

The Gateway Theory is a popular argument supported by opponents of Marijuana decriminalization. This theory suggests that use of Marijuana will motivate the person in question to use other more harmful substances.

This theory has two major problems:
1) It has never been tested, with a positive result, in a laboratory setting. In fact, existing evidence supports the contrary - when Marijuana was de facto legalized in Amsterdam, heroin use rates sharply declined.

2) This theory operates on the basis that Marijuana itself is not dangerous enough to warrant negative attention simply for its effects and side-effects. In supporting this theory, one has completely surrendered with the understanding that the drug war cannot be won by fighting Marijuana on scientific evidence, but rather more shocking and unprovable evidence(such as this theory) must be presented to make a legitimate stand.

In reality:
Marijuana may seem to possess a gateway effect, but most of this stems from the legal status and the stigma associated with the drug - Marijuana is treated by law as more harmful than substances such as cocaine or heroin, and as such, users are put into positions where exposure to other illegal drugs is a possibility. If marijuana were completely decriminalized or legalized, this would not be a problem. For example, Alcohol is a drug that has addictive qualities on a similar level to that of cocaine, but rarely does one go out on a night of drinking and return with a coke habit.

 

The first drug you do is YOUR gateway drug. First you have to break the law to obtain it, saying something about you as a person not the drug you're using, whether it be mary jane or something harder. Tobacco was my gateway drug. I was 13 and smoked cigs with my friends behind the grocery store. It was obviously illegal for me to be smoking at such a young age, but that was part of the allure. Next was alcohol at age 15. Obviously also illegal. People that go on to harder drugs would have gotten there whether they made a stop at MJ or not. Studies show that people who develop drug addictions have either dealt with a traumatic experience in their life or have grown up around someone who had substance abuse problems. My first cigarette was given to me by my sister, who later went on to be the epitome of a crackhead. I myself have tried everything in the book, and would have done so whether or not marijuana existed.