General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs pot really a gate way drug? Or do people move on to other drugs when they can't get pot?
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I have known a lot of pot smokers. Only one had turned to other drugs. It wasn't because it was hard to get pot either, it was just that other drugs in addition to pot were being used at the parties he went to. The gateway drug thingy is a boogie man IMNSHO. The thought that pot is hard to get is ludicrous, I could get pot in about 30 minutes if I really wanted to. I don't and have never smoked a joint. But, I know I could if I wanted to.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)I know a bunch of pot heads who turn to alcohol or other strong drugs when they can't get pot. Otherwise, pot is their drug of choice.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)There are hot boxes or something like that. Small units you can grow pot in. Yeah I found out accidentally. I thought that is a funny thing to grow veggies in your house. Oops.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."
TeamPooka
(24,226 posts)Maybe that's why....
Scuba
(53,475 posts)dembotoz
(16,804 posts)you end up going to people who may have other drugs too
therefore perhaps a gateway because it gets you aquainted with less then legal folks and activities
would be cool at costco
large bag for less money
MissMarple
(9,656 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)Or, if he can't, his guy can.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)I do believe research indicates that the real gateway drug is cigarettes.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)OTOH, it is almost completely harmless. The problem with smoking is all the other crap in the smoke.
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)you just don't get a lethal dose smoking a cig!
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)In the doses that are provided by cigarettes (around 1 mg), it has a number of small beneficial and small detrimental effects.
Mostly it is a weak stimulant and helps people with ADHD concentrate.
HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)That is, it does travel with other, more dangerous, drugs.
TeamPooka
(24,226 posts)the gateway is created by the black market nature of cannabis.
If it's illegal you can only buy it from people who will also sell other outlawed contraband like pot, coke, meth, heroin etc.
If it were legal it would be isolated from that product pool like alcohol is.
Because they are sold together beer is a gateway drug to hard liqueur but no one complains about that.
Take pot away from hard drug dealers by legalizing and licensing & selling it like booze and POOF the gateway vanishes.
Arkansas Granny
(31,516 posts)MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)The notion of it is ludicrous, drug warrior drivel. Any drug I've ever done was because I wanted to do it, it never had anything to do with climbing some imaginary ladder where you have to take the next logical step. If there was any validity to this crap anyone that ever drank a soda would eventually be a heroin addict.
We need to stop talking in their frame.
enough
(13,259 posts)I was never interested in cigs until I started smoking quite a bit of pot in the early 70's, then started looking for something to smoke at work. Back in those days, MANY people smoked in the workplace.
Finally quit smoking when I got pregnant.
EOTE
(13,409 posts)cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)And drug dealers, since they are already risking prison, often don't stop with selling pot.
When popular things are illegal, everyone is a criminal.
So why not try meth or heroin? You know someone who sells it, and you are already a criminal!
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Most of them aren't THAT stupid.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)would the market for other drugs drop off?
Bandit
(21,475 posts)All of their "Hard Drug" usage has declined and in fact even pot usage has either remained stable or declined. It is pretty difficult to refute what has occured over the past few years in those two countries....
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)Do you think that free access to pot would cut into the meth and oxycontin usage?
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)They do different things so they aren't interchangeable.
There is something to common or similar access points.
intaglio
(8,170 posts)Pot is illegal but many people find it harmless and enjoyable. Then, consciously or unconsciously, people wonder if other illegal drugs are equally pleasurable and harmless ...
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Seriously. Most of us are responsible users and don't act or think like two-year-olds.
intaglio
(8,170 posts)But you may be educated and careful about recreational substances but many others are neither.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)to cause ME to be restricted in MY private activities.
nachosgrande
(66 posts)And I think legalization would go a long way in curbing "harder" more dangerous drug experimentation/use.
1-Old-Man
(2,667 posts)The ultimate gateway drug is mother's milk. Then, who ever did drugs that did not take an aspirin years earlier? One does not lead to another, pot does not take you to anything but pleasant bit of time.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)I smoked pot in my 30s, did cocaine in my 40s. I got my fill of both. I am now almost 74 and have not touched any drugs for over 35 years. My worst sin now is tobacco.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)Whovian
(2,866 posts)and have been looking for the gate ever since.
jody
(26,624 posts)kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)MyshkinCommaPrince
(611 posts)Coffee is a gateway drug, in the way proposed. If I can't get coffee, I move on to tea, or even one of those saccharine sodas, the hard stuff. Might even move to truck stop pep pills, put them in a beverage, if I had to. Need that kick. Otherwise I'm a sleepy person and I tend to shy away from responding to forum threads. Grumpy and dopey, too. All those dwarves. Well, except the smart one. He sort of had it together. The rest of them could have used some coffee, probably.
HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)Sounds like some really good shit your smokin'.
MyshkinCommaPrince
(611 posts)Unless you mean high on the coffee. Coffee is good. I like it lots. Love it, in fact. Can't get enough of such a good thing, you know.
My only drugs would be coffee, pipe tobacco, and sleep/anti-sleep. While I have nothing against other people using other various substances, I've never been particularly interested. Yet I am not altogether displeased if I really do come across as stoned. I guess what I really am is wired.
HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)You have to have a really good supplier though. Most of what is available over-the-counter is over-processed and stale. And I don't even want to start on Starbucks. (personal opinion, of course)
JVS
(61,935 posts)Plenty of people use pot and never move on. On the other hand, if you want to get your hands on some heavy duty stuff, scoring pot is a relatively easy first step to getting connected to the people who will be able to provide it to you.
mitchtv
(17,718 posts)I am 68 and was just getting tired of weed,when I started to show symtoms of Parkinson's, now I use it daily
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Show me one pothead, boozer. cokehead or junkie that didn't start out on milk.
People either like it or they don't. Coffee and cigarettes are gateway drugs.
anarch
(6,535 posts)Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)markpkessinger
(8,396 posts)...such as the assumption that people will do any old drug they can get their hands on. That's probably true for some folks, but for most people, different drugs have different effects, and just because a drug of choice is not available does not necessarily mean they'll reach for another, especially if the available alternatives have effects that are not to that person's liking.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)anything except alcohol. It really wasn't an assumption, but a question - would people not do other drugs if pot were readily available? Based on the general response, I'm thinking that the answer is it depends.
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts)No doubt some would, and no doubt some wouldn't.
Response to hedgehog (Original post)
CrispyQ This message was self-deleted by its author.
cecilfirefox
(784 posts)I have smoked a lot of pot in my life and never felt like it was throwing me into anything terrible. I put it in the same category as alcohol, at most, and cigarettes, at the least. Although I have done other drugs, some a little harder, typically I won't touch it if it isn't a plant.
Walk away
(9,494 posts)I have never met anyone who needed a "program" to quit pot.
cecilfirefox
(784 posts)and met stoners who didn't have any herb you might have a bit of a different opinion. LOL. Everything in moderation though.
benld74
(9,904 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)cocaine, acid, heroine, meth, ecstasy, or PCP that hadn't tried pot first.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)samsingh
(17,598 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)neither.
Heimer
(63 posts)My state was one that legalized usage in the elections. Curious to see what effects it has on other drug usage in the coming years.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)won't change much. Most people who want to smoke pot -- or do other drugs, for that matter -- already have been. Making it legal just means fewer people will be busted, which is a good thing.
mrmpa
(4,033 posts)It was written in 1972, and is a very well written book about drug usage in the US, and reasons why they were criminalized. It addresses the issue that you ask about, and the answer is a profound "NO". I know the book is available on amazon.
Licit And Illicit Drugs; the Consumers Union Report on Narcotics, Stimulants, Depressants, Inhalants, Hallucinogens, And Marijuana - Including Caffeine, Nicotine And Alcohol
RainDog
(28,784 posts)When someone can purchase something legally for a reasonable amt. of money, they will.
When someone has to go to someone who deals in cannabis, those people are also sometimes diversified into other illegal substances (that have far less bulk, are easier to conceal, and have higher profit margins.)
There is an incentive to sell those drugs because of the illegal status of all of them.
When cannabis is not sold where illegal drugs are sold, this remove the gate to try something else.
Also, the war on drugs propaganda has done real harm in this regard.
The lies about cannabis naturally lead people to wonder if they are lying about other substances that may pose real risks for addiction and other health problems.
So, really, the War on Drugs is the gateway to hard drugs.
MadrasT
(7,237 posts)It's not like a hierarchy.
When I was running in circles that used drugs, there was just always a whole array of drugs and people used whatever they liked best, or whatever somebody else was sharing that night. Pot, coke, hash, mushrooms, pills, acid, whatever. Only thing we didn't have around was heroin. Heroin scared us.
marlakay
(11,468 posts)You will use booze, pot, drugs, etc
Pot doesn't make anyone move on no more than booze does, it's a persons addictions that do.
loyalsister
(13,390 posts)It's mostly about the nature of the high.