In the 1930’s, a film titled Reefer Madness depicted the supposedly horrific results of youth trying marijuana. The film suggested that the drug leads directly to violence, mental illness and the complete breakdown of civilization. While the movie has become a cult classic as a melodramatic, alarmist effort to dissuade youth from drug use, some scientists continue to believe that marijuana serves as a stepping stone to the use of ‘hard’ drugs, such as cocaine and heroin.
The idea that exposure to marijuana makes you more likely to become involved with other drugs and suffer negative consequences is known as the ‘gateway’ effect. There is some evidence for this hypothesis. For example, it is commonly observed that marijuana use among teenagers precedes use of other illicit drugs. In studies with young animals, giving THC - the primary psychoactive component of marijuana – seems to sensitize them to the effects of other substances later in their life. For example, rats who are given THC in ‘adolescence’ will seek more heroin when they are ‘adults’ than rats who were never exposed to THC. However, making claims about what causes what is tricky business. Sometimes it seems like one thing causes another (marijuana use causes hard drug use) but actually it’s another factor that is causing both experimentation with marijuana and subsequent hard drug use. For example it’s possible that certain genetic factors or a bad home environment might be causes for marijuana use and later problems with other drugs. Several recent studies have examined this and evidence generally suggests that the relationship is not causal: marijuana is probably not a gateway drug, at least not for most people who wind up with substance abuse problems. Instead, marijuana use represents one stop along a path for people who are likely – with or without exposure to marijuana – to be drug users.
That said, the debate still continues and the outcome is important. If marijuana is in fact a gateway drug – then prevention efforts designed to protect people from ever trying marijuana would be important and potentially save people from many of the problems associated with drug abuse. However, if the gateway hypothesis is not true, other prevention strategies are needed.
One thing that we haven’t addressed here is the use of marijuana itself. Is it a medicine? A harmless substance? A grave threat to civilization? As with many debates, the answer is in the middle. In future columns, we’ll talk more about this.
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Tags: gateway drug, marijuana, matthew brensilver, reefer madness, thc
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