Marijuana; A Gateway Drug
I didn’t personally try marijuana because someone pressured me to… And I never tried another drug because I was stoned.
I was never the type of person that would smoke pot and say “Hey cocaine sounds like a good idea”. It was always “Hey Dominos sounds pretty awesome right about now”. I think that people use the idea of marijuana being a gateway drug as one of their lame reasons as to why it should continue to be illegal.
Marijuana is seen as a gateway drug because it has been made to be a negative thing. Therefore, other negative things are associated with it. Chances are that your pot dealer knows a heroin dealer and maybe one day, you go to get a bag of bud and they convince you to try heroin. Marijuana is associated with dangerous substances because it has been made out to be one of them. In 2009, there were 2.3 million people who reportedly tried marijuana which dwarfed the part of the population using cocaine (617,000) and heroin (180,000).
The idea that marijuana is a gateway drug has long been abandoned by scientists because let’s be honest, most kids will face the question of tobacco and alcohol before they’re offered marijuana. If you give something a negative connotation for a long enough time, people have a seriously hard time of letting go of it. It’s sad to think that so many people still believe that marijuana will lead in to harder drugs. That’s like saying eating one slice of pizza will lead to a lifetime of high cholesterol and diabetes. It just doesn’t make sense. People need to start getting educated on the new and improved status of marijuana, rather than sticking with the negative ideas that have been so unfortunately associated with it.
Marijuana is not a gateway drug. If you try marijuana and you like it, you’ll probably do it again. If you don’t like it, chances are you won’t have any issues never touching it again. It’s all about self control and how feel about yourself. You can be a pothead and say no to everything else. I personally do not do any other drugs, nor do I drink alcohol. But I love marijuana! Have I tried other drugs? Yes. Did I like them? They were okay. But I stopped dabbling with those because let’s face it, nothing is better than that good old green stuff!
Writing By: Miss Botwin