Pot vs. Alcohol

College Confidential Community
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<p>Article:</p>

<p>"Washington, DC: Marijuana experimentation by adolescents does not lead to the use of harder drugs, according to the findings of a RAND study released Monday. The study dismisses the so-called "gateway theory," and raises doubts regarding the legitimacy of federal drug policies based upon its premise.</p>

<p>"While the gateway theory has enjoyed popular acceptance, scientists have always had their doubts," said lead researcher Andrew Morral, associate director of RAND's Public Safety and Justice unit. "Our study shows that these doubts are justified."</p>

<p>After analyzing data from the U.S. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (which measures patters and frequency of self-reported drug use among Americans), researchers concluded that teenagers who tried hard drugs were predisposed to do so whether or not they tried marijuana.</p>

<p>"The people who are predisposed to use drugs and have the opportunity to use drugs are more likely than others to use both marijuana and harder drugs," Morral said. "Marijuana typically comes first because it is more available. Once we incorporated these facts into our mathematical model of adolescent drug use, we could explain all of the drug use associations that have been cited as evidence of marijuana's gateway effect."</p>

<p>Morral said that the study raises serious questions about the legitimacy of basing national drug policy decisions on the false assumption that pot is a gateway drug. "For example, it suggests that policies aimed at reducing or eliminating marijuana availability are unlikely to make any dent in the hard drug problem," he said.</p>

<p>NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre praised the study's findings, noting that population estimates on drug use have consistently shown that most people who try marijuana never graduate to harder drugs. "Statistically, for every 104 Americans who have tried marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine, and less than one user of heroin," St. Pierre said. "For the overwhelming majority of marijuana smokers, pot is clearly a 'terminus' rather than a gateway."</p>

<p>St. Pierre further speculated that among the minority of marijuana smokers who do graduate to harder substances, it's pot prohibition rather than the use of marijuana itself that often serves as a doorway to the world of hard drugs. "The more users become integrated in an environment where, apart from cannabis, hard drugs can also be obtained, the greater the chances they will experiment with harder drugs," he said.</p>

<p>Previous studies criticizing the gateway theory include a Canadian Senate report released this past fall, and a 1999 report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. The latter study concluded that marijuana was not a "gateway drug to the extent that it is a cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse." It noted that the "most consistent predictors of serious drug abuse appear to be intensity of marijuana use and co-occurring psychiatric disorders or a family"</p>

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<p>The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center:</p>

<p>"Marijuana is not a “gateway” drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study. Moreover, the study’s findings call into question the long-held belief that has shaped prevention efforts and governmental policy for six decades and caused many a parent to panic upon discovering a bag of pot in their child’s bedroom.</p>

<p>The Pitt researchers tracked 214 boys beginning at ages 10-12, all of whom eventually used either legal or illegal drugs. When the boys reached age 22, they were categorized into three groups: those who used only alcohol or tobacco, those who started with alcohol and tobacco and then used marijuana (gateway sequence) and those who used marijuana prior to alcohol or tobacco (reverse sequence).</p>

<p>Nearly a quarter of the study population who used both legal and illegal drugs at some point – 28 boys – exhibited the reverse pattern of using marijuana prior to alcohol or tobacco, and those individuals were no more likely to develop a substance use disorder than those who followed the traditional succession of alcohol and tobacco before illegal drugs, according to the study, which appears in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.</p>

<p>“The gateway progression may be the most common pattern, but it’s certainly not the only order of drug use,” said Ralph E. Tarter, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and lead author of the study. “In fact, the reverse pattern is just as accurate for predicting who might be at risk for developing a drug dependence disorder.”</p>

<p>In addition to determining whether the gateway hypothesis was a better predictor of substance abuse than competing theories, the investigators sought to identify characteristics that distinguished users in the gateway sequence from those who took the reverse path. Out of the 35 variables they examined, only three emerged to be differentiating factors: Reverse pattern users were more likely to have lived in poor physical neighborhood environments, had more exposure to drugs in their neighborhoods and had less parental involvement as young children. Most importantly, a general inclination for deviance from sanctioned behaviors, which can become evident early in childhood, was strongly associated with all illicit drug use, whether it came in the gateway sequence, or the reverse.</p>

<p>While the gateway theory posits that each type of drug is associated with certain specific risk factors that cause the use of subsequent drugs, such as cigarettes or alcohol leading to marijuana, this study’s findings indicate that environmental aspects have stronger influence on which type of substance is used. That is, if it’s easier for a teen to get his hands on marijuana than beer, then he’ll be more likely to smoke pot. This evidence supports what’s known as the common liability model, an emerging theory that states 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.</p>

<p>“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,” Dr. Tarter said. “To become more effective in our efforts to fight drug abuse, we should devote more attention to interventions that address these issues, particularly to parenting skills that shape the child’s behavior as well as peer and neighborhood environments.”</p>

<p>Indeed, according to the study, interventions focusing on behavior modification may be more effective prevention tactics than current anti-drug initiatives. For example, providing guidance to parents – particularly those in high-risk neighborhoods – on how to boost their caregiving skills and foster bonding with their children, could have a measurable effect on a child’s likelihood to smoke marijuana. Also, early identification of children who exhibit antisocial tendencies could allow for interventions before drug use even begins.</p>

<p>Although this research has significant implications for drug abuse prevention approaches, Dr. Tarter notes that the study has some limitations. First, as only male behaviors were studied, further investigation should explore if the results apply to women as well. Also, the examination of behaviors in phases beyond alcohol and marijuana consumption in the gateway series will be necessary."</p>

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<p>"Cannabis use does not lead to experimentation with harder drugs, researchers say. </p>

<p>US researchers said it does not act as a "gateway" drug, and that measures to curb cannabis use does not have a knock-on effect on the use of harder drugs. Instead, they say teenagers begin using cannabis, or marijuana, simply because it is the most available drug. They said they were not advocating decriminalising cannabis. But they did question whether efforts to control drug use should be so focussed on cannabis. The research comes as the UK government prepares to announce a package of new measures to tackle drug misuse which will focus on harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin. </p>

<p>Personality </p>

<p>In the US study, researchers from the independent Rand Drug Policy Research Center in Santa Monica, California, looked at data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse between 1982 and 1994. They concluded that teenagers who took hard drugs did so whether they had first tried cannabis or not. Researchers said the likelihood of cocaine or heroin users having previously used cannabis was high, not because of the gateway effect, but because of their personalities.
Andrew Morral of Rand said: "The people who are predisposed to use drugs and have the opportunity to use drugs are more likely than others to use both marijuana and harder drugs. "Marijuana typically comes first because it is more available." He said the findings would impact on drug policies, because they suggested reducing or eliminating the availability of cannabis would be "unlikely to make a dent" in the hard drug problem. "When enforcement resources that could have been used against heroin and cocaine are instead used against marijuana, this could have the unintended effect of worsening heroin and cocaine abuse," he added. But Mr Morral said cannabis should not be legalised or decriminalised. "Even without the effects of the marijuana gateway, relaxing marijuana prohibitions could affect the incidence of hard drug use by diminishing the stigma of drug use generally, thereby increasing adolescents' willingness to try hard drugs. "Moreover, marijuana itself can be a serious problem for those who become dependent on it." </p>

<p>Taking risks </p>

<p>A spokesman for the UK charity Drugscope backed the study's findings. He told BBC News Online: "Sixty per cent of young people aged 20 to 24 have used cannabis, but only 1% of that age group have used harder drugs. "So the idea of cannabis leading people in that direction is misleading." He criticised the gateway theory, and backed decriminalisation of cannabis use. He said people who used harder drugs were more likely to have "risk averse" lifestyles and to have misused other substances, including cannabis, tobacco and alcohol. Research has linked cannabis use to depression and schizophrenia, and a recent study suggested smoking the drug harm the lungs more than smoking tobacco. "</p>

<p><a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/2005/RB6010.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/2005/RB6010.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Hey I am all for the legalization of weed, but the fact remains that many potheads do coke, its just not as in your face as pot is. I had many friends I didn't know for years were doing cocaine, its just not talked about.</p>

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<p>Again, if you read the previous posts you might have discovered that certain individuals have a predisposition towards drug abuse. If cocaine was always available to an addict I doubt the addict would resort to marijuana use. They only use marijuana because it is easily available.</p>

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<p>I have always seen alcohol as a mask for other blights, but I have only anecdotal evidence that has been generalized through confirmation bias.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I would say 40-50% of potheads also do coke.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No way. (10 char)</p>

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<p>If I had a vendetta against candy, I could legislate that all sweets stores be merged with the Church of Satan and proclaim that candy is a gateway substance to devil worship. That's pretty much what the government's doing with marijuana.</p>

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<p>Alcohol makes me more social. I've been told that I'm incredibly charming when I reach a certain point. </p>

<p>Weed makes me social too, but I have to be smoking with someone else. It also makes me incredibly horny for short periods of time.</p>

<p>But who needs to pick between the both? I usually mix and match as I know just how much I need to mix and match to not get the spins.</p>

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<p>well, since i'm not an alcohol or pot user.. or has friends that really do both. i can't really say much about this subject..</p>

<p>except like my whole school except me + my friends does pot & drinks alcohol alot.
alot
alot
alot</p>

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<p>Is it common for people to get high and drunk at the same time?</p>

<p>It most definitely is here, but when I mentioned this to a few girls from Boston, they looked horror-struck.</p>

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<p>Haven't you heard of the expression: crunked?</p>

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<p>it seems pretty common to me...</p>

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<p>Pot is harmless and I will address the typical things people brought up in here, trying to prove it is bad.</p>

<p>Pot is a Gateway drug: This is somewhat true for one reason. You buy pot from the same dealers who have coke, crack, meth, acid, etc. If you could buy a pack of joints at a gas station similar to a pack of ciggarettes this would be MUCH less common place. It is a catch 22. That's a reason to keep it illegal to most, but that reason exists because it is illegal. Still this for the most part is the fault of that individual for choosing those drugs. I stand by my promise to myself that I will never try a hard drug.</p>

<p>A joint is more harmful than a ciggarette: I saw someone say it was 10 times worse. Wrong. Yes smoking anything is bad, as it gets tar in your lungs. Yet the average pot smoker has one joint a day. The average ciggarette smoker has a pack a day. Not to mention there are many methods to using pot without smoking as someone on here mentioned. There are many ways of infusing THC into food products. There is also something popular among college students known as a vaporizer. It does no harm to your lungs as you are not smoking in the full sense of the word. A vaporizer only heats up enough to burn the THC crystals off the weed. All you inhale is THC. You get higher faster, and you don't inhale smoke so no tar in your lungs.</p>

<p>Weed has bad long term effects: Do the research no one has ever suffered a pot related death as far as lung cancer from someone who ONLY smoked pot. It's never happened. If anyone who was a pot smoker died of lung cancer, then they smoked ciggarettes too. I've also been reading that people think pot has long term emotional effects. Wrong again. The effects of weed, depend on which strand you smoked. Different strands have different effects on people. The days of all heavy highs are over. Weed is once again becoming a "club drug" because there are many strands coming out that make the smoker have a more social sensation similar to that of being drunk, you are just simply more coherent.</p>

<p>Alchohol is much worse short term and long.</p>

<p>Short term: You're incoherent, you can OD on alchohol, you don't remember alot and typically you make an *** of yourself.</p>

<p>Long term: Alcholism (it can destroy families), and horrible troubles with digestive organs due to Alchoholism</p>

<p>Pot is better. Much better.</p>

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<p>SFODKevin, thank you for your very astute assessment. I most definitely agree that pot is 'better' than alcohol in the sense that it is the 'lesser of the evils.' As a former pothead (many, many, MANY years ago!) I would like to add that pot is not without its emotional effects. Long-term use can cause memory loss, lack of motivation, and a tendency to not deal with emotions because it is so easy to sweep them under the rug. It can also impair judgment by amplifying certain thoughts and desires at the exclusions of others. Back in my pothead days, I made some really stupid decisions regarding boyfriends that I truly believe were influenced by being high all the time. I just did not have a clear head. I didn't even notice how foggy I was until I'd quit for a few months then smoked again. Only then could I notice the difference. And, looking back, the 6 years in which I got high daily are very foggy. My memories just aren't as clear as the before years and the after years. That's my experience but I've also seen it in other 40-somethings who were potheads as teens. I also know a few people who are now in their 40s or 50s and who've been getting high for 30+ years. They are fully functioning members of society, but they do seem to lack motivation. This is highly subjective observation, of course, so it might not mean much to you.</p>

<p>I agree that these may seem negligible in comparison to the toxic, deadly effects of alcohol or the nasty effects of harder drugs like meth. Pot is mild in comparison. Even though I haven't smoked pot in 25 years, I still contend that the world would be a better place if it were legal INSTEAD OF alcohol. (Better yet it would be nice if the world were free of ALL vices, including caffeine and sugar, and everyone were vegetarian and exercised regularly, but I realize that is asking WAY too much!) I'd much rather see people getting stoned and stupid than drunk and violent!</p>

<p>I go into a lot more detail in some of my other posts on those other 2 threads I mentioned. It's interesting to hear about the new strains of pot - those did not exist in my time. We did have a few different strains - some heavier and other lighter - but not the choices you have today.</p>

<p>I would just caution teens to not get too complacent about pot. Yes, it is less harmful than alcohol. But don't think it has no ill effects at all. And, don't think that it doesn't impair your driving. Though it doesn't impair driving AS MUCH as alcohol, it still most definitely does affect your reflexes and judgment. If you must get high, please don't drive. And don't get in the car with someone who is drunk OR high.</p>

<p>Onward thru the fog...</p>

<p>edit: Sorry if I sound a little preachy. I am a mom, after all. Just an ex-pothead mom who's been there.</p>

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<p>Pot = Love, Alcohol = bad, but still pretty good, in moderation.</p>

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<p>Yeah that makes sense. Obviously you would know more about this than I would as I'm only 18.</p>

<p>Nothing is bad in moderation and although I didn't stress it in my first post, lealdragon reminded me to say that don't over do anything including pot. Nothing that is mind-altering is good all the time. You become someone else.</p>

<p>Yes the strains are big deals especially in urban/club culture. (Sorry for calling it "strands" in my previous post, I was watching Law and Order on my computer while typing and I kept hearing "strands of hair". Freud was right.) </p>

<p>High school kids get the same stuff all around the country, for the most part, unless they really "play" the game.</p>

<p>Also, you didn't sound too preachy. You just sounded like a mom haha.</p>

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<p>You sound like you've got some good sense for being only 18! (and a L&O fan too!)</p>

<p>I'll back out of this discussion now so you don't have to wonder if there are moms lurking.</p>

<p>bye</p>

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<p>Nah, doesn't bother me. I'd prefer to have you here. I'm always interested to hear the parental side of things. I know I'll be the same way as a parent.</p>

<p><em>Back on topic</em>
There are tons of research documents proving the limited harmful effects pot has. If you still don't buy what I'm saying, and think I'm just a burn out, do the research. I challenge you to prove me wrong.</p>

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<p>I think that white America has created such a taboo around weed that most people have skewed opinions about it. Movies and books often associate it with poverty and corruption, which leads us to believe that marajuana is BAD...while alcohol is simply the chosen beverage of sophisticated adults.</p>

<p>And don't even get me started on cigarettes.</p>