OBrien 1 Christine OBrien Professor Wendy Grosskopf WRT 201 December 19, 2013 Marijuana Keeps the Gate

Closed In todays society, the issue surrounding the use of marijuana is very controversial. Although many states have passed legislation permitting marijuana use for medicinal purposes, the debate still continues whether or not marijuana should be legalized for recreational purposes for fear of the consequences it will have on habitual users. An argument against legalizing this drug for recreational purposes is marijuana use often leads to use of harsher, more addictive substances. However, despite popular belief, marijuana is not a gateway drug. The majority of marijuana users do not experiment with other illicit drugs (10 Facts About Marijuana 1). Despite this being true, people are very concerned with how common other drug use will become if marijuana use is permitted for recreational purposes. The use of marijuana often prevents users from trying other substances and if they do, they usually do not become addicted. I can contest to this because I am a college student who knows various marijuana users who have tried other substances as well. The people who have tried other drugs have told me that they do not wish to continue to use any other substance besides marijuana and that they are by no means addicted to any other drug. With that being said, many of the people I know who have tried marijuana have not tried any other drug and do not wish to. If users of marijuana want to try other drugs, they will do so for their own personal reasons, not because marijuana drove them to. A reason there is a correlation between marijuana users and users of other substances

OBrien 2 could be that people who enjoy altering their state of consciousness like to further explore different ways of doing so. It does not mean that marijuana was the driving force in an individuals choice to continue experimentation. People like to change their state of consciousness for a variety of reasons and that is never going to change. Many people have issues in their lives that they would like to escape and marijuana is sometimes their coping mechanism. Smoking marijuana to take the edge off does not mean that a person will start buying cocaine and heroin because he feels that pot is pushing him into using other substances. Lots of users of marijuana enjoy altering their mindset for whatever reason but marijuana is just an option of how they can do that, not the cause. In 2011, a study conducted at San Francisco General Hospital found that pain in patients who were being treated by opioid drugs was reduced by 27% with the addition of marijuana. Based on this finding, it can be inferred that marijuana may be beneficial in preventing opiate overdoses. This means marijuana use can actually reduce the usage of other drugs. It can be inferred perhaps that people with chronic pain use marijuana to avoid becoming addicted to drugs such as heroin and morphine. If this is true, than marijuana is actually the opposite of a gateway drug and keeps the gate closed for certain users. Most users of marijuana do so occasionally rather than habitually which does not mean they are or will become avid drug users. A study done by the federal Institute of Medicine in 1999 reveals that less than 10% of users admitted to rehab met clinical diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence. Based on the findings of this study, it is clear that marijuana was not the key factor in putting drug users in rehab. According to drugpolicy.org, in 2006, a third of patients referred to rehabilitation centers by the criminal justice system had not used marijuana 30 days prior to their admission. This proves that there is not always a correlation between

OBrien 3 heavy abusers of scheduled substances and marijuana. The fact that there are always a greater number of users of marijuana than cocaine or heroin proves that it is not a gateway drug. According to TIME.com, in 2009, it was reported that 2.3 million people tried marijuana, while 617,000 tried cocaine and 180,000 people tried heroin. If it were true that the use of marijuana enabled users to experiment with other drugs, the number of people who had tried cocaine and heroin would be much greater than what these findings show. It is reported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that: More than 100 million Americans have tried marijuana; 14.4 million Americans are estimated to be "past-month" users. Yet there are only an estimated 2,075,000 "pastmonth" users of cocaine and 153,000 "past-month" users of heroin. (stopthedrugwar.org) It is evident in this statement that marijuana is most often used in experimentation and not a chronic addiction that will trigger users into seeking out a better way to get high. If people are able to take or leave marijuana than it is not a drug that will promote excessive use of any kind of substance. The question surrounding whether marijuana is a gateway drug should not be a question of the marijuana itself but rather, the user. Every individual makes their own choices and if a person decides to experiment with other drugs, it is not because marijuana caused him to. If people wish to experiment with drugs after trying marijuana, it is because they wish to alter their state of consciousness for whatever reason and that was why they tried cannabis in the first place. There is evidence that shows that not only is marijuana not a gateway drug, but it can also prevent further drug experimentation in certain users. Marijuana usage will not promote users to experiment with harsher drugs but the users own choices may.