We have been told that marijuana is a gateway drug. That normally means that those who use “harder drugs” likely used marijuana previously. However, this is the wrong question. It is the Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. If we want gateways like this, I have many more for them to criminalize. Let’s start with oxygen. Every person who uses a “harder” drug inhaled oxygen prior to doing so. Therefore, inhaling oxygen causes a person to consume harder drugs. Every person who uses a “harder” drug drank water prior to consuming the “harder” drug. Therefore, drinking water causes a person to consume “harder” drugs.
Is there a theory backed by science to explain why consuming marijuana causes consuming “harder” drugs ? Well, there’s a problem. We can’t say that that consuming marijuana causes a person to consume “harder” drugs because not everybody who consumes marijuana consumes “harder” drugs. In fact, not even most people who use marijuana go on to use “harder” drugs.
These findings are consistent with the idea of marijuana as a "gateway drug." However, the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, "harder" substances. Also, cross-sensitization is not unique to marijuana. Alcohol and nicotine also prime the brain for a heightened response to other drugs51 and are, like marijuana, also typically used before a person progresses to other, more harmful substances.
Correlation is not the same as causation. There could be something else that leads to both marijuana use and the use of “harder” drugs.
An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances such as marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with others who use drugs increases their chances of trying other drugs. Further research is needed to explore this question.
Even President Biden has evolved on this issue. He now states that he no longer believes marijuana is a gateway drug.
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) really wants to make sure you don’t think he still believes marijuana is a gateway drug.
“When you talk about marijuana, everybody says, ‘Biden says it’s a gateway drug,’” the 2020 presidential candidate lamented in an interview with The Shade Room that was published on Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s a gateway drug.”
52% of all drug arrests in 2010 were for marijuana. Most drug arrests were for people with a small amount of marijuana.
According to the ACLU’s original analysis, marijuana arrests now account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana. Nationwide, the arrest data revealed one consistent trend: significant racial bias. Despite roughly equal usage rates, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana.
They have a report in a pdf file which I strongly recommend reading about the discriminatory outcome of criminalizing marijuana.
Updating our previous report, The War on Marijuana in Black and White, that examined arrests from 2000 to 2010, this report reveals that the racist war on marijuana is far from over. More than six million arrests occurred between 2010 and 2018, and Black people are still more likely to be 3 for marijuana possession than white people in every state, including those that have legalized marijuana.
A black person is 3.64 more times likely to be arrested for marijuana possession even though black and white people use marijuana at similar rates. 89.6% of all marijuana arrests are for possession. About half of all drug arrests in 2010 were for marijuana. In some states, black people were six or 8 or even up to 10 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. They continue:
“The War on Marijuana
In our 2013 report The War on Marijuana in Black and White, we documented the national scope of our country’s decades-long, multibillion-dollar, racist war against people who use marijuana. We found that, in 2010, despite the fact that Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates, Black people were arrested at over three times the rate of white people, and up to eight times as often in some states.
Since the early decades of the 20th century, the criminalization of marijuana has been a pretext for the criminalization of Black and Brown people. Taking advantage of several decades of Reefer Madness propaganda, in 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act and classified marijuana under Schedule I — reserved for the most dangerous class of drugs with the highest potential for abuse and little to no medical value, a designation shared by drugs like
heroin, methamphetamines, and PCP. But such classification — like the drug war generally — had nothing to do with marijuana or science, and everything to do with criminalizing and controlling certain communities. As John Ehrlichman, counsel to Nixon and assistant to the president for domestic affairs, said over two decades later:
‘ We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be against the war (Vietnam) or Black, but by
getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and the Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.’ “
Thus, we know that the War on Drugs and the War on Marijuana were designed primarily not for public health but to target and harm political enemies, hippies and African Americans. The charge that “Marijuana is a gateway drug” is misleading and the War on Marijuana turns out to really be a War on African Americans which was the original intent.
Sunday, Jul 4, 2021 · 10:54:21 AM +00:00 · Dem
After the injustice that Sha’Carri Richardson is experiencing, I wanted to say something. It’s so wrong, stupid, inhumane what she is experiencing that it just blows my mind. I can’t begin to understand it.
It was @#$@$@# legal in her state. It wouldn’t help her more than advil and overall, it would probably be hurt her somewhat by reducing her reaction time. It was one time after the death of her mom. Why do this with a legal substance ? I am trying to come up with another similar situation and I am really struggling. I don’t know if they test for alcohol, but it would hurt her time as well. It also wasn’t the day of. To be honest, I’m not sure that she had anything to apologize for, but perhaps it was necessary to keep Nike. It was one time and she apologized even though I, frankly, don’t think she did anything wrong. And still she is being held out ?
This is so wrong.
Sunday, Jul 4, 2021 · 3:11:42 PM +00:00 · Dem
A response to a comment that for addicts, marijuana was a gateway and that this post indicated no understanding of addiction.
“For addicts” — who is your “addicts” ? Addicts of what ? Addicted to marijuana ? Addicted to hard drugs ? You’ve got a huge logical problem from what I can see (although the language is unclear).
I have to believe that you mean addicted to hard drugs by “addicts” . What you have done, then, is to shoot arrows into a barn and then you drew concentric circles around the arrow and declared “Bulls eye !” .
Most people who smoke marijuana do not go on to use harder drugs, much less become addicts of harder drugs. Let’s suppose that 100% of those who are addicts of harder drugs smoked marijuana previously. If only a small percentage of those who smoke marijuana go on to become addicts of harder drugs, does that mean that the entire population of the country should be unable to smoke marijuana when the overwhelming majority of them would not go on to become addicts to harder drugs ? Again, 100% of those who are addicted to harder drugs drink water and breathe oxygen. Should the entire population be denied water and oxygen ?
If some large percentage of those who consume marijuana went on to use harder drugs, then there would be some argument. That’s the relevant statistic. What percentage of those who used marijuana went on to become addicts of harder drugs ? That percentage is the important statistic. A strong majority of the population of the country has used marijuana, but only a very small percentage of them went on to become addicts to a harder drug.
I understand addiction.
Sunday, Jul 4, 2021 · 4:05:11 PM +00:00 · Dem
My daily life is determined by my medication which I take as proof of my commitment to staying clean. It has awful side effects for me, but I take it because I am committed to my clean life. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t party and I don’t use narcotics. However, I know that my life is my life. There is no reason that the practices of my daily life should become the practices of the lives of anybody else. Simply because I fell into addiction does not mean that there should be a law for the rest of the population of the country. Laws regarding marijuana should be based upon science, facts, and logic. Science, facts, and logic do not support criminalizing the use of marijuana. There is no reason that marijuana should not be legal across the country. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of those who have used marijuana do not go on to use harder street drugs. Criminalizing marijuana in a war on marijuana or a war on drugs has always really meant a war on people of color, especially a war on African Americans. The call to keep or make using marijuana a crime relies upon a logical fallacy, the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. The world doesn’t revolve around me. My experience should not be assumed to apply to the population of the country. Even if it did, my experience did not include using harder street drugs. Personal experiences are anecdotes. That is not how we do science or statistics. Marijuana should be legalized across the country.
Sunday, Jul 4, 2021 · 4:35:49 PM +00:00 · Dem
A user named “Science Believer” wrote about me:
I was just replying to the original diarist saying “It wouldn’t help her more than advil”, which I took to mean that the writer (Dem) thought that the ban was because someone claimed it was performance enhancing, which as far as I am aware, no one has said, especially not the governing body of Track & Field that handed down the ban.
Wonder what this meant ?
According to the USADA, the reason that cannabinoids on the WADA Prohibited List are:
- “Athletes who smoke cannabis or Spice in-competition potentially endanger themselves and others because of increased risk taking, slower reaction times and poor executive function or decision making.”
- “Based on current animal and human studies as well as on interviews with athletes and information from the field, cannabis can be performance enhancing for some athletes and sports disciplines.”
- “Use of illicit drugs that are harmful to health and that may have performance-enhancing properties is not consistent with the athlete as a role model for young people around the world.”
From the NIH :
Cannabinoids are potent anti-inflammatory agents and they exert their effects through induction of apoptosis, inhibition of cell proliferation, suppression of cytokine production and induction of T-regulatory cells (Tregs).
There are other sources although the National Institutes of Health should be sufficient. Certainly, reducing inflammation is helpful for sprinters among others. Thus, the comparison to other anti-inflammatories like advil and ibuprofen was made.
Can medical marijuana help inflammation?
In addition, medical marijuana inhibits the production of cytokines , molecules that stimulate immune system cells to rush to the area that has been injured or infected. By reducing cytokines in the body, medical marijuana effectively eliminates inflammation.Dec 11, 2019
Another
Cannabis has long been accredited with anti-inflammatory properties. Researchers, however, have now discovered that it is not only the familiar psychoactive substances that are responsible for this; a compound we take in every day in vegetable nutriment also plays a significant role.Jul 22, 2008
Sunday, Jul 4, 2021 · 7:16:01 PM +00:00 · Dem
A user posted a concern:
I’m not saying that people who are not addicts can’t use pot successfully. What I am saying is that anyone who is an addict can’t use any mind and mood altering drug successfully. I know that for me pot was the hardest thing to quit because it seemed so benign but it always led me back to stronger drugs and complete defeat. Saying that pot isn’t a gateway drug doesn’t tell the whole story and may cause people to die.
So the concern is : what happens if a person who can’t use a mind or mood altering drug successfully uses a mind or mood altering drug ? If a person who can’t use a mind or mood altering drug successfully uses a mind or a mood altering drug, then they won’t be successful in doing so.
I feel that we are very close to a tautology here.
What I am saying is that anyone who is an addict can’t use any mind and mood altering drug successfully.
Who is the addict ? What are they addicted to ? This is not a straight forward question. Are they addicted to sugar ? Caffeine ? Nicotine ? Alcohol ? Marijuana ? Harder street drugs ? Opioids ? What if they take the opioids precisely as prescribed, but would have terrible side-effects if they were to suddenly stop ? What if that person were a cancer patient ? What if that person was in a car accident ?
If a person who can’t use marijuana successfully uses marijuana, what happens ? What does successfully mean ?
It is my belief that criminalizing the use of marijuana results in the death of many people, especially African Americans. Are there some who can’t use marijuana successfully (however that is defined ) ? Probably. Is marijuana likely to cause death ? I’m not aware that this is the case. Is marijuana likely to lead to taking a harder drug which could cause death ? Only a small percentage of those who use marijuana go on to use harder drugs and / or become addicted to harder drugs. Am I endorsing the use of marijuana universally ? I’m not. Advocating for the legalization of marijuana doesn’t mean that I recommend that each and every person in America smoke marijuana.