Comments on: Marijuana Not A Gateway Drug

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:16:24 +0000

Thats “loss of dexterity” in the second sentence above.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:14:34 +0000

In reply to 419andcounting, your soft drink / alcohol drink analogy is erroneous and misleading. Marijuana is harmful to your health, albeit not as bad as harder drugs, but harmful nonetheless. Heavy use has been shown to cause irreversible brain damage, causing slurred speech and dexterity. If you are going to use drinks as an analogy, might I suggest comparing marijuana to shandy or alcopops, as gateways to drinks with a higher alcohol content.

By: Replay to GW

Replay to GW — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:25:53 +0000

true; and the last line said it all…

By: Drifter

Drifter — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:56:33 +0000

GW has copied and pasted his comments on other web sites like this and CBS. GW are you another anti marijuana activist?

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:08:42 +0000

Maby if people who smoke didnt have to deal with criminal dealers who sell other substances aswel as cannabis to people . Smokers would not have to ever come in contact or asoceate with a class A drug dealer. . You are letting people who just want to smoke be exposed to the blackmarket and all its unsavory characters. . .

By: 419andcounting

419andcounting — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:50:27 +0000

The reason marijuana is considered to be a gateway drug is due to its prohibition and the dishonesty that surrounds it.

In most cases, if you smoke marijuana you have to purchase it illegally from a dealer. Eventually a dealer may offer you something more extreme such as cocaine, heroin, meth, or any number of harder drugs. Based on your experience with marijuana, you figure that the horror stories you heard about these drugs might be exaggerations – the stories certainly were in the case of marijuana. So, you decide to give one of these harder drugs a try.

If marijuana were legal and its effects discussed honestly, people would rarely find themselves in the situation described above.

Trying to scare people with lies will only work as long as they believe them. Once they find out the truth, often times by first hand experience, they will be more likely to disregard what they were told when faced with similar circumstances.

Imagine for instance that you tell a child that Pepsi is poison and drinking it will kill them, and you also tell them the same thing about Budweiser, and Jack Daniels. At some point in the future this child sees a friend drinking a Pepsi, and decides to risk a sip. When this child doesn’t die and eventually learns to enjoy Pepsi, what happens when that child encounters a Bud Light or bottle of JD? If the child ends up trying either one, what is the reason? Would Pepsi be considered a gateway ‘beverage’?

Its not rocket science, but the inevitable result of perpetrating a lie.

Usually the person speaking out most passionately about marijuana being a gateway drug, is the same person spewing the lies that cause it to appear so.

By: Ed

Ed — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:24:11 +0000

90% of people who smoke cocaine started out using Tylenol.

Tylenol is a gateway drug.

You awful people.

By: GW

GW — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:25:17 +0000

The title of the article is misleading. The title should be “Marijuana – a gateway to harder drugs and other substances for Whites, Hispanics and Blacks who did not finish HS, are unemployed and have high stress levels.”