Reader responses to last week's 'Weed and Greed' article
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: Opinion
In a recent article drug task force officer Chuck Hearn said that marijuana is kind of a gateway drug and he believed marijuana leads to other destructive substances.
He said that many of the hard drug addicts he encounters, such as cocaine users, started smoking marijuana in their early teens.
I bet if we were to ask those same people did they smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol before they started doing hard drugs like cocaine they would say yes.
The gateway theory is just a "theory." I read a book entitled "Mother of All Gateway Drugs" by John Newmeyer, Ph.D. in which he states: "if we really want to look at what is the mother of all gateway drugs, its sugar. Did you ever give a baby a drink of soda or some ice cream? You can hardly pry it out of their hands."
We're going to have to come up with something better than the "gateway theory" for us to have a reason to be arresting someone every forty seconds.
-Dawn Palmer
The problem with marijuana prohibition is that it is based on known lies. Drug Task Force officer Chuck Hearn's claim that "Marijuana is kind of a gateway drug" is an example.
The 1997 U.S. government sponsored Institute of Medicine (IOM) study on Medical Marijuana debunked the notion that marijuana use leads to heroin addiction with this pointed conclusion- "Whereas the stepping stone hypothesis presumes a predominantly physiological component to drug progression, the gateway theory is a social theory.
The latter does not suggest that the pharmacological qualities of marijuana make it a risk factor for progression to other drug use. Instead it is the legal status of marijuana that makes it a gateway drug." (The IOM report is online at: http://www.drugsense.org/ iom_report/)
In other words, any gateway phenomena is caused by the drug laws that officer Chuck Hearn promotes and enforces. Legalizing and regulating marijuana for adult use will close the gateway.
-Ralph Givens
He said that many of the hard drug addicts he encounters, such as cocaine users, started smoking marijuana in their early teens.
I bet if we were to ask those same people did they smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol before they started doing hard drugs like cocaine they would say yes.
The gateway theory is just a "theory." I read a book entitled "Mother of All Gateway Drugs" by John Newmeyer, Ph.D. in which he states: "if we really want to look at what is the mother of all gateway drugs, its sugar. Did you ever give a baby a drink of soda or some ice cream? You can hardly pry it out of their hands."
We're going to have to come up with something better than the "gateway theory" for us to have a reason to be arresting someone every forty seconds.
-Dawn Palmer
The problem with marijuana prohibition is that it is based on known lies. Drug Task Force officer Chuck Hearn's claim that "Marijuana is kind of a gateway drug" is an example.
The 1997 U.S. government sponsored Institute of Medicine (IOM) study on Medical Marijuana debunked the notion that marijuana use leads to heroin addiction with this pointed conclusion- "Whereas the stepping stone hypothesis presumes a predominantly physiological component to drug progression, the gateway theory is a social theory.
The latter does not suggest that the pharmacological qualities of marijuana make it a risk factor for progression to other drug use. Instead it is the legal status of marijuana that makes it a gateway drug." (The IOM report is online at: http://www.drugsense.org/ iom_report/)
In other words, any gateway phenomena is caused by the drug laws that officer Chuck Hearn promotes and enforces. Legalizing and regulating marijuana for adult use will close the gateway.
-Ralph Givens
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
M Metner
posted 4/25/08 @ 1:09 PM CST
Drug Task Force officer Chuck Hearn is not staying current with U.S. Medical studies. He repeats old, disproven "gateway theory" propaganda. Here's the refuting evidence, Medical College of Virginia, medical study titled "Cannabis & other illicit drugs. (Continued…)
Post a Comment