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I’m pretty sure they will find out that “susceptibility” (liking it a lot) is linked to genetics. I don’t think I have that particular variant: I used it (tried to) as a teen but it took 5 times before I could even feel anything.
A lot of times, it would actually give me a headache. As far as a “gateway”? Not for me; I used speed before I even tried cigarettes. Unfortunate, as for the first time in my life I felt my brain go from point A to point B; without ping-ponging off C-D-E ...etc, first.
I was 13 & I thought to myself “Is this what it feels like to be normal?” Unfortunate but also; genetic, as I have the suspect variant in my Sert gene (a serotonin regulator) that causes disregulation but can be prompted into regulation by stimulants.
I had always understood that the “gateway pathway” was: Alcohol, smoking (cigarettes), marijuana & then “harder” drugs such as hallucinogens, stimulants & opiates but maybe not for everybody. Not for me, at least.
Some say no, some say yes. I'd go with the first, but ultimately don't care.
This is one of those hopelessly inconclusive topics that can't be agreed on or nailed down.
Sums up the debate pretty darn good.
As mentioned above alcohol is the gateway drug.
But alcohol goes back to biblical times and before.
Clean drinking water historically has been a sickness issue. So some forms of beer were invented/discovered. And wine. So people could drink fluids without getting sick.
But alcohol today can/may have a devastating effect to society/people.
The US attempted to ban alcohol and that didn't work.
Ganja does have some medical benefits. It is a drug though and can have some negative affects.
I say legalize it and tax it. But there should be the same anti use programs/education the same as those anti use programs/education for alcohol.
Personally I don't use any alcohol or ganja. So I don't have any dog in this debate.
Legalize it. Tax it. And put the hidden drug dealers out of business. Or at least for ganja. Place the authority resources onto the other drugs such as heroin speed and whatever else is out there.
I'm retired LE and pretty much every criminal I know of started out on marijuana before moving on to harder drugs. So yes, I consider it a gateway drug.
I'd say it's more likely they started out on alcohol.
Obviously, those who favor legalizing marijuana, are those who want to use it themselves and probably already do, illegally. You couldn't expect them to have any other sort of opinion about it or to rationally evaluate all the things involved and the complications that would result.
Marijuana warps the minds of its users, to think that it's a good thing. I've seen several old friends who have used it regularly, whose lives have been on a downhill slide, ever since they started. And they don't even know that it has happened.
That's perhaps the silliest thing I've ever heard. I was indifferent to it and only tried it because it was legal where I was. I tried it for fun in my 30s and was unimpressed until I used it for a headache upon the suggestion of a friend who used it for his MS. It is the only thing that helped besides stuff like vicodin, which i would prefer not to take.
I'm an Ivy League graduate that pulls down 6 figures. But yeah, waiting for that downhill slide because I support the legalization of marijuana and used to use it pretty regularly.
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Picking marijuana as the starting point is arbitrary. Starting from childhood, a typical hard drug user's stimulant timeline looks something like this:
Sugar -> Caffeine -> Nicotine -> Alcohol -> Marijuana -> Cocaine -> Meth or Heroin or Hard Drug of choice
The only reason prohibitionists point at marijuana and declare it the "gateway" drug is because it is the first one in the chain that is illegal.
The VAST majority of people stop at Caffeine, Alcohol or Marijuana. Legality makes little difference. If you are the type that is predisposed to fall into hard drug use, taking marijuana out of that chain would make no difference. You would still "gateway" to hard drugs.
Good point. I don't think Marijuana is a gateway drug to stronger drugs. I think it has more to do with the person. Are they trying to escape from their life? Do they have so much pain within themselves that the "bigger" high is the only thing that makes them feel better? Do they have a follow the group mentality(weak minded), or do they have an addictive personality? Do they need a crutch? I think it is those questions rather than just Marijuana.
No Marijuana is not the gateway. It is what is within the person to begin with.
BTW, I tried it in my younger days(30 years ago) and did not care for it. I also knew quite a few people who smoked it, loved it and never moved on to anything else. Heck some of them still smoke it but they did not move on to a different drug.
No. It’s not a gate way drug. I’ve been using for a good 20 years now and never one have I wanted or felt the desire to try anything stronger. I have seen some use it and end up wanting something more mostly because they are looking for a way to numb whatever they are feeling.
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