Marijuana - a gateway drug ?

daveza

daveza

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Seems to be drug awareness week so I need to ask -

Every radio discussion re drugs at schools, drugs in the neighbourhood etc reiterates the standard cliche:

People who smoke Marijuana/Dagga will go on to shoot heroin, snort Coke, blah blah.

Says who ? I'm talking about mature adults who use it for recreational purposes, similar to those who use alcohol responsibly and with restraint.

I know many people who enjoy the occasional joint now and then and have done so for years. They neither have or have ever wanted to move on to any harder substances.

Surely it's time to question this myth or are we next going to say that beer is a gateway drink to moonshine ?
 
Frankly, I think that alcohol is FAR more of a gateway drug than weed.
 
daveza said:
Seems to be drug awareness week so I need to ask -

Every radio discussion re drugs at schools, drugs in the neighbourhood etc reiterates the standard cliche:

People who smoke Marijuana/Dagga will go on to shoot heroin, snort Coke, blah blah.
Click to expand...

This is just so old. Like Jurassic old. Alcohol is now without question THE gateway drug if there IS such a thing.
The reality is that just about any addictive substance can be a persons individual gateway drug.
 
actually i kinda agree a bit.
Weed is usually a persons first contact with "drugs" (excluding alcohol,cigs etc). And once u become ok with the idea that suddenly weed is not this ridiculously dangerous thing, u get used to the idea of having it. Then u get into a community of users, inevitably someone there has something else etc etc.

Not everyone is like this, but i can see how they get this idea
 
A lot of times I have what you call an "intervention" and then I take a while to reflect on what I've done the past few days and what I said to people or maybe posted on a forum that could potentially have hurt other people. Most of these "interventions" happen when I'm stoned. I truly sometimes sit back and admit to myself: "man I can be a d**s when I'm sober". :) I can't say the same for the times when I've been drunk.

And yes, the PRO's and CON's measured up between weed and booze will show that alcohol is the black sheep in the family.
 
Alcohol definitely.
I think you can only classify psychoactive drugs as being a possible gateway.
If you cant feel an effect, like either High or Drunk, then you wont think about trying something new, for a new type of feeling.
 
I think what people forget in the equasion is the psychological issue - if you do something illegal and condone it in front of your kids, or you simply do something you tell them they should never do, you are going to create problems. Setting an example in educating your kids is tops. As for those who don't have kids... why bother with the stuff?
 
// Marijuana suffers from a bad wrap that goes all the way back to cotton manufacturers
// And Alcohol is a far worse habit
 
ha..dont think anyone ever graduated from an college or university without taking a spliff, and marijuana is not addictive..its all in the head, people who say they are addicted to weed talk utter bul****, cigarettes is way more harmful and weed dont cause car accidents
 
For me, cigarettes was the gateway and the saviour. I say this because I started smoking when I was in highschool with the plan that I would never go long term with it -ha ha. Eventually I found the idea of quitting pushed further and further to the back of my mind. It was then that I realised that potential contact with any substance could lead to me not being in direct control anymore. That was a valuable lesson and I took it to heart because as we all know, young people have the tendancy to think they are in control and they're invincible at times. I have smoked my fair share of weed but never took it further simply for fear of getting into something I would deeply regret.

Alcohol is a danger because when under the effect, a person drops their inhibitions and will open themselves up to who knows what unless it's ingrained in their mind. Weed? All I can say is that you're very aware of what you're doing on weed. You will triple analyse the smallest of situations much in the same way a woman will do over a man's thoughtless statement. Paranoia alone makes you drive at 20km/h below the speed limit so in my experience, while in the heat of the moment, weed isn't going to get you hitting the tik pipe. But hey, that's just me. 95 percent of my friends have at least experimented with harder drugs. Some took it further.
 
tomatosarefruit said:
I think what people forget in the equasion is the psychological issue - if you do something illegal and condone it in front of your kids, or you simply do something you tell them they should never do, you are going to create problems. Setting an example in educating your kids is tops. As for those who don't have kids... why bother with the stuff?
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Huh, say what :confused:
 
Some of the stupidest things I have ever done in my life, all seemed like such a good idea at the time. And at that time, it was always booze that I was under the influence of.
 
<moLe> said:
ha..dont think anyone ever graduated from an college or university without taking a spliff, and marijuana is not addictive..its all in the head, people who say they are addicted to weed talk utter bul****, cigarettes is way more harmful and weed dont cause car accidents
Click to expand...

Marijuana is definitely addictive, maybe not physically but definitely mentally.
Im addicted, know im addicted, and trying to do something about it. But because its been a daily ritual/habit for about 8 years, makes it extremely difficult. things such as watching movies, playing computer games, having braais, even a toot now and then, all of these things for me go hand in hand with a smoke. These are the habbits i need to break, its all in my head, i know this, although i struggle to stop.
I cant sleep if i dont smoke..
 
Surv0 said:
Marijuana is definitely addictive, maybe not physically but definitely mentally.
Im addicted, know im addicted, and trying to do something about it. But because its been a daily ritual/habit for about 8 years, makes it extremely difficult. things such as watching movies, playing computer games, having braais, even a toot now and then, all of these things for me go hand in hand with a smoke. These are the habbits i need to break, its all in my head, i know this, although i struggle to stop.
I cant sleep if i dont smoke..
Click to expand...

It's all in the mind
 
There will always be people who use responsibly (the majority, ragardless of what peoplw would have you believe) and then there will always be those who go too far. As it's been said; alcohol and ciggarettes are more likely to be 'gateway' drugs.
 
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