marijuana illegal because its a gateway drug?

[wayoftheleaf]

no way. it is almost a proven fact that is not the case. using marijuana does not cause people to use other drugs people that use other drugs use them because they want to use other drugs not because marijuana led them to it. some people just like to use drugs and get high and alot of those people may find that marijuana isnt enough for them so they try other stuff but that doesnt mean marijuana led them to use other drugs. infact some people start using hard drugs first then try marijuana and dont like it at all. so it can go both ways.

exactly, marijuana doesn't make you want to try harder drugs.

it just makes it a lil easier to get into the circles for those drugs.

[jokeyjokejoke]

I'd have to say that cannabis IS a gateway drug. I'm not saying that weed makes people do real, hard drugs. What i am saying is that when a person goes from not smoking weed to smoking weed certain doors may open up to them. I expirienced this myself, until i was eighteen i had only ever seen hash once and that was before i decided to try it. However, once i had started smoking and more importantly buying weed, other drugs then became accessable to me and as a resort i tried one other drug that i otherwise would not of.

It is in that sense that i beleive cannabis to be a gateway drug.

You must of expirienced it, you meet your dealer and he just slips into conversion that he can get or has got other stuff if you want it.

[snoogans]

even though you will probably get flamed for saying that, its the truth in alot of people, same for me, i dont do any of this stuff now, but if it werent for me to start smoking i probably wouldnt have started smoking cig's, i have taken xanax on a few occasions and even done coke once(very small amount only once, never doing it again.) but idk, my feelings on this subject are mixed.

[jokeyjokejoke]

Same for me, i now only smoke weed and cigs but did dable with that white powder due to the fact i know DRUG DEALERS now and didn't before.

[Oneironaut]

It cannot be the case that cannabis is illegal because it is the "gateway drug", for the simple fact that in the vast majority of cases, the first drug a person uses is alcohol or tobacco.

The only extent to which it is a gateway drug is precisely because it is illegal. When you start buying pot, you meet the people who sell other stuff too. It's simply inevitable. As you find the different dealers in your area, you find that some of them aren't just selling pot. And since the only people who have access to the harder drugs are people who also have access to pot, it only makes sense that the pot-smokers are going to be more likely to use those harder drugs.

And besides, how many people do you know who would do a line of coke or shoot up some heroin but refuse to ever smoke weed? It doesn't happen, because weed is an almost entirely harmless high in every respect, so practically anybody who's interested in getting high will have no problems indulging in it. The fact that harder drug users are almost all cannabis smokers does not mean cannabis directly causes people to use harder drugs; it means that users of harder drugs are also willing to use softer drugs to get high, just like somebody who enjoys drinking straight vodka is also very likely to enjoy beer.

[MacWQ33]

I think it just has to do with curiosity as far as substances go. Obviously alcohol and tobacco are usually first to open you up to the idea of 'different perspectives'...basically a change in physical/mental status...basically being 'high', or maybe just rebellion in some people. It's most likely cannabis comes next as it is the most available illegal substance, most popular illegal substance, and is deemed to be not as dangerous as anything else.

As your mind is now 'open' to the thought of feeling 'different' [high] and you realize that there are many other things in which cause various variations of feeling 'different'...it will cause curiosity to maybe dabble here and there.

At least that's how it was for me and many people I know...it wasn't so much as trying to find a 'stronger' high, but just a different high. This gets mixed up, thus the 'gateway theory'. I honestly believe it's a good thing to be curious...of course there should be enough common sense to not be curious about things like crack, dope, and meth...but that's up to the individual. Some people are oblivious and basically....well, stupid lol.

But, as long as you don't go with the crack, dope, or meth route...you will always come back to weed after your curiosity is fulfilled. :thumbsup:

[tokinsplinter]

another thing is all the people that smoke weed just because of the mere fact that it illegal and i guess a rush of excitement for them to do something illegal. if you made it legal then who knows how many people wouldnt try harder drugs because they never tried weed.
i really do agree with the fact of meeting dealers to get weed that supply other, harder things as well.

[Oneironaut]

That's a good point. Imagine how popular salvia would be if it was illegal. I bet there would be huge salvia smuggling rings all over. But since it's legal it's just an unknown and unpopular drug sitting on the shelves of head shops.

[BUZz UK]

too true...

[wayoftheleaf]

It cannot be the case that cannabis is illegal because it is the "gateway drug", for the simple fact that in the vast majority of cases, the first drug a person uses is alcohol or tobacco.

The only extent to which it is a gateway drug is precisely because it is illegal. When you start buying pot, you meet the people who sell other stuff too. It's simply inevitable. As you find the different dealers in your area, you find that some of them aren't just selling pot. And since the only people who have access to the harder drugs are people who also have access to pot, it only makes sense that the pot-smokers are going to be more likely to use those harder drugs.

And besides, how many people do you know who would do a line of coke or shoot up some heroin but refuse to ever smoke weed? It doesn't happen, because weed is an almost entirely harmless high in every respect, so practically anybody who's interested in getting high will have no problems indulging in it. The fact that harder drug users are almost all cannabis smokers does not mean cannabis directly causes people to use harder drugs; it means that users of harder drugs are also willing to use softer drugs to get high, just like somebody who enjoys drinking straight vodka is also very likely to enjoy beer.

My friends brother used to run cocaine and snort a shit ton of it, but never considered it a drug. And he is completely against pot.