Is MMJ a gateway drug?

Some myths behind Medical Marijuana fade slowly. Talking points repeated through-out the years have echoed from opposition to pundit to politician. Often times, if something is repeated enough and you hear it from a variety of sources, it must be true, right? Everyone, from Seniors to young adults, has been told that Marijuana is a gateway drug.

What does "gateway drug" mean? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary : a drug (such as alcohol or marijuana) that is thought to lead to the use of more dangerous drugs (such as cocaine or heroin).

The reason we are talking about this topic is, Presidential hopeful, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has quickly taken a loud stance on Medical Marijuana legalization nationwide. He's against it and has repeatedly cited Marijuana as a gateway drug. If Christie’s point is simply that the use of marijuana tends to precede the use of other drugs, then in that general context, he is correct — but that’s not the whole story.

Political watchdog, FactCheck.org has looked into this statement and returned with some thought provoking results. While previous studies lack a definitive answer, they expose the reader to the plethora of variables a study like this faces.

“In the sense that marijuana use typically precedes rather than follows initiation into the use of other illicit drugs, it is indeed a gateway drug. However, it does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse; that is, care must be taken not to attribute cause to association.” - 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences.

You can read the full article from Factcheck.org here --> http://www.factcheck.org/2015/04/is-marijuana-really-a-gateway-drug/

As you can see, the jury is still out. However, more recent studies are reporting the gateway theory as another in the long line of mistruths about Marijuana. Keep in mind, this warning is generally aimed at minors (20 or under) who are not legally able to participate in the legal markets. As Seniors, we are unlikely to turn to heroin out of the blue after smoking a little Medical Marijuana. There are no examples that we can find. Outdated fear tactics have little place in the enlightened age of Medical Marijuana science.

For many adults, Medical Marijuana has helped them off of harder drugs, prescription drugs and alcohol. We'll cover that subject soon, stay tuned and thanks for reading. You can join the conversation over on Facebook --> https://www.facebook.com/seniorsMMJnetwork

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