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    Gateway Theory Debunked

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    Marijuana is often claimed to be a "gateway drug" that leads users to try harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. However, numerous peer-reviewed studies have found no evidence that marijuana use causally leads to use of other illegal drugs. Rather, factors like genetic predispositions and socioeconomic circumstances appear to be better predictors of illegal drug use. Some researchers believe marijuana's illegal status is a stronger "gateway" since it exposes users to criminal networks that sell other drugs.

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    Gateway Theory Debunked

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    MPP
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    Marijuana is often claimed to be a "gateway drug" that leads users to try harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. However, numerous peer-reviewed studies have found no evidence that marijuana use causally leads to use of other illegal drugs. Rather, factors like genetic predispositions and socioeconomic circumstances appear to be better predictors of illegal drug use. Some researchers believe marijuana's illegal status is a stronger "gateway" since it exposes users to criminal networks that sell other drugs.

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    A small sampling of the many peer-reviewed studies debunking the so-called “gateway theory”

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    Marijuana is often claimed to be a "gateway drug" that leads users to try harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. However, numerous peer-reviewed studies have found no evidence that marijuana use causally leads to use of other illegal drugs. Rather, factors like genetic predispositions and socioeconomic circumstances appear to be better predictors of illegal drug use. Some researchers believe marijuana's illegal status is a stronger "gateway" since it exposes users to criminal networks that sell other drugs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    3K views2 pages

    Gateway Theory Debunked

    Uploaded by

    MPP
    Marijuana is often claimed to be a "gateway drug" that leads users to try harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. However, numerous peer-reviewed studies have found no evidence that marijuana use causally leads to use of other illegal drugs. Rather, factors like genetic predispositions and socioeconomic circumstances appear to be better predictors of illegal drug use. Some researchers believe marijuana's illegal status is a stronger "gateway" since it exposes users to criminal networks that sell other drugs.

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    Is Marijuana a Gateway Drug?

    For many years, opponents of marijuana policy reform have claimed that while marijuana itself
    may not be as dangerous as so-called hard drugs like cocaine or heroin, it is a gateway drug
    that leads users down a path toward use of those more dangerous substances. This, despite the
    fact over 107 million Americans more than 40% of the U.S. population born since 1960
    have tried marijuana, yet only 37 million have tried cocaine, only four million have ever tried
    heroin, and less than one-tenth of one percent of Americans used either in the last month.
    Fortunately, science has weighed in, and nearly every researcher who has ever looked into the
    question has determined that marijuana use is not a causal factor in the subsequent use of more
    dangerous drugs. Rather, marijuana is simply the first (or more likely, third, after alcohol and
    cigarettes) in a normal progression to more dangerous substances among those predisposed to
    use such drugs.
    In fact, some researchers believe that it is marijuanas illegal status that is the real gateway.
    Because marijuana is illegal, those who seek to buy it must obtain it from criminal drug dealers
    who often maintain an inventory of other drugs and have an incentive to expand their market to
    new users. This exposure to the illicit market and peer groups that are willing to engage in
    drug use can lead individuals to use of more dangerous drugs. Researchers also identified
    socio-economic factors like employment and educational attainment influence the likelihood of
    substance abuse. Marijuanas illegal status means that an arrest for marijuana possession, and the
    collateral educational and employment consequences that come with it, could lead to later
    substance use.
    Here is a small sampling of the many peer-reviewed studies debunking the so-called gateway
    theory:

    Predictors of Marijuana Use in Adolescents Before and After Licit


    Drug Use: Examination of the Gateway Hypothesis
    Tarter, et al. American Journal of Psychiatry (2006) This evidence supports
    what's known as the common liability model ... [which] states [that] the
    likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined
    not by the preceding use of a particular drug, but instead by the user's individual
    tendencies and environmental circumstances, investigators stated in a press release. They added,
    The emphasis on the drugs themselves, rather than other, more important factors that shape a
    person's behavior, has been detrimental to drug policy and prevention programs.
    http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.2006.163.12.2134

    Reassessing the Marijuana Gateway Effect


    Morral, et al. British Journal of Addiction (2002) We've shown that the
    marijuana gateway effect is not the best explanation for the link between
    marijuana use and the use of harder drugs ... An alternative, simpler and more
    compelling explanation accounts for the pattern of drug use you see in this
    country, without resort to any gateway effects. While the gateway theory has
    enjoyed popular acceptance, scientists have always had their doubts. Our study
    shows that these doubts are justified.
    http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB6010/index1.html

    A Life-course Perspective on the Gateway Hypothesis


    Van Gundy & Rebellon, Journal of Health and Social Behavior (2010) Our
    results indicate a moderate relation between early teen marijuana use and
    young adult abuse of other illicit substances; however, this association fades
    from statistical significance with adjustments for stress and life-course
    variables. Likewise, our findings show that any causal influence of teen
    marijuana use on other illicit substance use is contingent upon employment status and is shortterm, subsiding entirely by the age of 21. In light of these findings, we urge U.S. drug control
    policymakers to consider stress and life-course approaches in their pursuit of solutions to the
    drug problem.
    http://hsb.sagepub.com/content/51/3/244.short

    Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base


    Joy, et al. for the Institute of Medicine, part of American Academy of Sciences,
    National Academies Press (1999) In the sense that marijuana use typically
    precedes rather than follows initiation of other illicit drug use, it is indeed a
    gateway drug. But because underage smoking and alcohol use typically
    precede marijuana use, marijuana is not the most common, and is rarely the first
    gateway to illicit drug use. There is no conclusive evidence that the drug

    effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit
    drugs. [I]t does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it
    is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse; that is, care must be taken not to attribute
    cause to association. There is no evidence that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis
    of its particular physiological effect Instead, the legal status of marijuana makes it a gateway
    drug.
    http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6376&page=6

    Understanding the Association Between Adolescent Marijuana Use


    and Later Serious Drug Use: Gateway Effect or Developmental
    Trajectory?
    Cleveland & Wiebe, Development and Psychopathology, Cambridge University
    (2008) Because marijuana use often precedes the use of other psychoactive
    substances, it has been characterized as a gateway to these other substances.
    Using data from twin pairs drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Youth
    this study examines the gateway effect role of earlier marijuana use on later hard drug use.
    Rather than supporting the interpretation that earlier marijuana use triggers later hard drug use,
    the results suggest that the longitudinal pattern of drug use that has been interpreted as the
    gateway effect might be better conceptualized as a genetically influenced developmental
    trajectory.
    http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1842736

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