Show of Hands

I been using it off and on for 50 years … helps with anxiety attacks.
It’s like any other natural medicine, you have to know the product and treat it with care. The last time I went to pick up the script, I told the dispensary that the previous dose was too strong and I needed something milder. I don’t want to be messed up, just calmed down now & then.

No more than alcohol

A little THC honey in some tea helps me sleep.

Well it’s kinda like drinking. Some people handle it well and others don’t. I just think if you’re chasing the high eventually you’ll go to something else something more dangerous like coke or heroine.

It’s a drug that most people try first but not all pot smokers continue on to do harder drugs. In fact I would say most people that smoke pot dosent move past pot.

Nope. The data shows it is not. What has always been is alcohol. What is now are pills stolen from parents and grandparents.

Look it up.

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Gateway to getting fat 😔

I think some people are more prone to experimenting with drugs in general. Marijuana typically comes early in that experimentation as it is popular and widespread, and has fewer negative side effects associated with it than many other drugs. Some people will stop there and some will not. I don’t believe it’s absence would stop people prone to experimenting from trying harder drugs.

I can tell you my dad quit heroin through sheer force of will, but smoked marijuana till the day he died. And he saw nothing wrong with it.

Of course it is.

Irish, you are correct. It’s the “feeling” that is the key. I had a roommate who had been a heroin addict but he found the same feeling from LSD so he stopped heroin. Remember that song by Head East:
Save my life, I'm going down for the last time
Woman with the sweet lovin', better than a white line
Bring a good feeling ain't had in such a long time
Save my life, I'm going down for the last time

@cowboy is correct.

Yes. Gateway to nothing happens positively in your life. You just plod along stupidly and never get anywhere. But you don’t know it because you’re too stoned to notice.

The difference is that alcohol isn’t being sold as safe and non addictive so kids don’t think pot is harmful.

It could be depending on the person but lots of things could be. Marijuana, in particular, can also simply be a medication.

You obviously didn’t read what I said.

So right to personal insults. How mature.

It helps to stop the shaking I get when an anxiety attack starts.
I like people, but some people can just strike <something> and I start to feel panicky in the situation. It began when my Dad passed away … my first known/documented panic event.

Are coffee drinkers more likely to do hard drugs than non coffee drinkers?

Thanks Ebola.

I don’t care what anyone says, marijuana is not a great thing.

The term gateway drug is a misnomer within itself the term defined as a drug that is not habit forming that coincides with users of that drug branching out to other drugs that are habit for me is not a thing that exists.

All drugs are addictive.

Can be 👍

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I know two people who did it. The first tried anything and everything. The second only tried marijuana and nothing else. Me myself I’ve never tried anything not even marijuana not even drinking. Might make it to 80.

No

I think psychological dependence is the gateway.

Once you decide [insert substance] “helps” me feel better/escape feeling bad, there is the risk of moving on to other substances.

Cowboy made no such claim that you are not intelligent but you seem to be making that point on your own behalf.

YES!!!!

Alcohol is a gateway drug

None of them have qualified opinions, they’re just dorks. The bottom line is we’re adults and we should be allowed to decide if we want to smoke or not, especially since marijuana is far less damaging to your health and society than alcohol

I'm sure that different amounts and different strains, would have different effects. What I use just makes my eyes feel "heavy " and I go to sleep.

More heroin user drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes then pot.

For someone who is inclined yes. Many will be recreational users, others will advance. Not unlike beer drinking leading to liquor.

Not in my personal experience.

My theory is it is.

I think that is a distinction without meaning.

Somebody might be clinically smoking marijuana for their glaucoma but somebody might be abusing marijuana for social issues both are a treatment to a symptom.

Somebody maybe smoking cigarettes for bowel regulation, or they may be smoking cigarettes for anxiety issues.

Clinical youth of drugs Versus Recreational use of drugs The only real difference is The Institution of medicine Determining prior to the prescription of a drug that this is the least harmful drug to be consumed across a swath of people.

No I know people who smoke it and they have never done any other drugs and they have no desire to. I know not everyone is like that but I think people who use other illegal drugs would do them anyway.

It does the opposite to me, whenever I would smoke it it would make me anxious and give me anxiety. One time it was so bad I had a full on panic attack so I decided not to smoke it anymore.

@tractorman each drug has two parameters of interest — addictive power (likelihood of becoming an addict) and damage from use (health effects resulting from use).

Addictive power rank: Nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, marijuana.

Health damage rank: alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, marijuana.

My father died of lung cancer. I have two cousins who died from alcohol abuse.

@irishalzheimers Two comments. 1) your stories do not contradict our research findings. I’m glad people have used marijuana without ill effect, and very glad to hear of people who have successfully beaten opioid use. 2) it’s popular to doubt science. Science is complex. I’m not here to change your mind. Only to share what I know from the work we did.

As for notion that we can all make our own decisions, I am in broad agreement. Unfortunately, our health insurance system is socialized. I pay for the health outcomes of abusers in my pool. 6% of the nations wealth is spent on substance abuse disorders.

@irishalzheimers not sure what point you are trying to make about prescription medications. In general I favor use prescribed by a physician and used in accordance with the drug label.

For some, yes. For others no.

I did substance abuse research for 20 years. No researcher I knew thought marijuana should be legalized.

As in? The preferred smoke of the getaway car driver? Probably…

@irishalzheimers please review my comments. I said Marijuana was the least addictive and least harmful of the four drugs we studied.

I can add that we found no effect on birthweight or other birth outcomes of children born to marijuana users. The children did poorly in school. In my opinion, this was more likely due to other conditions — poverty, child abuse, and other factors in the children’s environment.

If it is I think it could be because it was historically so heavily criminalized despite being a very minor drug. Some people try marijuana, realize it's pretty mild, and start to wonder what else they've been lied to about. They may think if weed isn't that bad maybe other drugs aren't too. If that effect exists hopefully further decriminalization will make it better.

A percentage of people who use the drug become addicts. A percentage of people who use the drug will have poor outcomes.

By legalizing the drug, use increases, because of capitalism. Addiction increases, poor outcomes increase, medical costs increase.

BTW, this is not the research we did. Our research was focused on birth outcomes and child development. But, of course, we read broadly in substance abuse and health outcomes.

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It definitely is.

I would say that it is not inherently a gateway drug, at least not for your typical user. That said, it CAN BE a gateway drug for those with a predisposition to addiction, and or those chasing a high in general.

Alcohol is the gateway drug