the

GATEWAY THEORY

 Why Marijuana

Should Be

Decriminalized

A publication of

Drug Policy Education Group, Inc.

An Arkansas Non-Profit Organization

 dpeg@mindspring.com     www.dpeg.org

 

University of Pittsburgh Study

Investigators at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Pharmacy, tracked the drug use patterns of 214 boys, beginning at ages 10 to 12, for a period of up to twelve years. All of the subjects eventually used either legal or illegal drugs.

Researchers found that adolescents who used marijuana prior to using other drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, were no more likely to develop a substance abuse disorder than other subjects in the study.

Investigators said that environmental factors (e.g., a greater exposure to illegal drugs in their neighborhoods) as well as subjects' "proneness to deviancy" were the two characteristics that most commonly predicted substance abuse."This evidence supports what's known as the common liability model ... [which] states [that] 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," investigators stated in a press release. They added, "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."

American Journal of Psychiatry

December 2006

The “Dutch” model

Since the 1970s, Holland has been criticized for its decriminalized marijuana policies. Wanting to keep young marijuana users away from cocaine and other "hard drugs," the Dutch decided to separate marijuana from the street markets for harder drugs by allowing anyone 18 years of age or older to purchase marijuana openly in government-controlled "coffee shops" which strictly prohibit the use and sale of other drugs.

The data tells the story —

Lifetime prevalence of marijuana use, age 12 and older:

USA 36.9%      Holland 17%

Past month prevalence of marijuana use, age 12 and older:

USA 5.4%      Holland 3%

Lifetime prevalence of heroin use:

USA 1.4%      Holland 0.4%

Past month use of cocaine:

USA 0.7%      Holland 0.2%.

 

In 1970, the Canadian Government did their largest study ever of the subject, and found no connection between marijuana and heroin. In 1972, the US Government did their largest study ever of the subject, and found no connection between marijuana and heroin. This was also the conclusion of the largest study ever done by Consumers Union, published the same year. In 1982, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science concluded that “... today's kind of illegal market for marijuana would probably shrink greatly under a regulatory system in the same way that illegal alcohol distribution systems have become so scarce. ... Such a development would make marijuana selling a less profitable and status-producing occupation among the young."

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences issued a report on various aspects of marijuana, including the so-called Gateway Theory, stating: “There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.”

The 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 history of psychopathology, including alcoholism."

 Nevertheless –

• About half of all drug arrests are for marijuana, over 750,000 in 2003

• State and local taxpayers spend between 5.3 billion and 7.7 billion dollars annually arresting and prosecuting marijuana offenders.

• The federal government spends an additional $4 billion on marijuana prohibition activities.

• And meanwhile, an estimated 86% of 12th graders report that marijuana is “fairly easy” or “very easy” to get.