does anyone think that one of the main reasons cannabis is illegal is because its users have a greater chance of using harder drugs like opiates or amphetemines etc.
is it just me or does anyone else think that if cannabis was legalized or maybe even controled like tobacco or alcohol there would be a dramatic drop in abuse of narcotics?
please discuss.

I think it would reduce the use of other drugs.....at least it would for me. But then u get the idiots that don't understand tolerance and think they need to move up to harder shit to keep getting high when in reality they just need to lay off the weed a bit.

no way. it is almost a proven fact that is not the case. using marijuana does not cause people to use other drugs people that use other drugs use them because they want to use other drugs not because marijuana led them to it. some people just like to use drugs and get high and alot of those people may find that marijuana isnt enough for them so they try other stuff but that doesnt mean marijuana led them to use other drugs. infact some people start using hard drugs first then try marijuana and dont like it at all. so it can go both ways.

Marijuana was made illegal around the same time we were trying to get Mexicans out of the country. We needed a reason to deport them.

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well yes, theres no stopping the people who wake up 1 day and decide to use crystal meth or heroin but im saying that perhaps if you didnt get beat with a night stick for having a dime on you there would be a drop in the numbers of people risking getting addicted to heroin or others

Marijuana is still illegal because the governement cannot control the growth, sales and distrobution of the product. Therefore they cannot tax it to get their cut which they believe they are entitled to.
It is that simple and has nothing to do with health issues, it is about Uncle Sam and all the other governments that say it is bad getting their cut or not getting their cut in this case.

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AJ, my 80's weed dealer said "When you gotta get high, you gotta get high"
My avatar was taken in front of Cousin Strawberry's house from the movie Up in Smoke.

Cannabis IS NOT a gateway drug.

Marijuana Use Per Se Not a 'Gateway' To Illicit Drug Use, Study Says - NORML

And theres MANY more studies out there proving that it's not.

It also DOES NOT cause any mental health illness, but CAN make an underlying condition worse, and/or bring symtoms to the surface.

Also, it doesnt cause cancer, as we have known for years upon years.

THESE are the 3 MAIN reasons the Government use for it to be kept illegal. Concidering there all false, they CANNOT be the reasons.

There is NO reason for it to be illegal. Our Governments make people beleive they're right, and that they care. Well, they dont give 2 shits about any of us, or ANYONE else apart from themselves. They lie, cheat and steal everyday. They're corrupt. They're breaking our Human Rights.

As far as im concerned cannabis IS legal, and god forbid if anyone told me differnt there'd be bloody hell to pay, because when i beleive in something as much as i do weed, i'll fight for it. And i mean FIGHT.

I saw someone mention something about Mexicans. Well, the word Marijuana was originally a racist word, aimed at mexicans who smoked it. Obviously these days it's not to most people, it's just a normal word, but it's roots are racist and when people say it when they're talking to me i ALWAYS correct them. I dont bother on these boards because im a steriotypical lazy stoner.

its illegal because if they made it legal thousands of dea agents and cops would be out of jobs.

if cannabis was legalized than cops and dea agents could focus on drugs.

Real drugs. See, the biggest problem is crime. Crime is things that affect people, like robbers and mugger and such. THOSE petty idiots contribute LOADS to crime figures, and THEY are on real drugs. Hard drugs. Smack. Crack. Coke - drugs that are dangerous and DESERVE to be illegal. Cannabis users dont do that at all. It's a waste of my tax money, a waste of time that could be spent actually making the place safer and better for us to live in. They should use our money for what WE want, not what they think.

exactly, marijuana doesn't make you want to try harder drugs.

it just makes it a lil easier to get into the circles for those drugs.

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"Prohibition . . . goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes . . . A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."
-Abraham Lincoln

I'd have to say that cannabis IS a gateway drug. I'm not saying that weed makes people do real, hard drugs. What i am saying is that when a person goes from not smoking weed to smoking weed certain doors may open up to them. I expirienced this myself, until i was eighteen i had only ever seen hash once and that was before i decided to try it. However, once i had started smoking and more importantly buying weed, other drugs then became accessable to me and as a resort i tried one other drug that i otherwise would not of.

It is in that sense that i beleive cannabis to be a gateway drug.

You must of expirienced it, you meet your dealer and he just slips into conversion that he can get or has got other stuff if you want it.

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Weed is the anesthesia by which I endure the operation of life.

Whats the after-life like?
Probably the same as the before-birth, and you dont remember that do ya.

even though you will probably get flamed for saying that, its the truth in alot of people, same for me, i dont do any of this stuff now, but if it werent for me to start smoking i probably wouldnt have started smoking cig's, i have taken xanax on a few occasions and even done coke once(very small amount only once, never doing it again.) but idk, my feelings on this subject are mixed.

Same for me, i now only smoke weed and cigs but did dable with that white powder due to the fact i know DRUG DEALERS now and didn't before.

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Weed is the anesthesia by which I endure the operation of life.

Whats the after-life like?
Probably the same as the before-birth, and you dont remember that do ya.

It cannot be the case that cannabis is illegal because it is the "gateway drug", for the simple fact that in the vast majority of cases, the first drug a person uses is alcohol or tobacco.

The only extent to which it is a gateway drug is precisely because it is illegal. When you start buying pot, you meet the people who sell other stuff too. It's simply inevitable. As you find the different dealers in your area, you find that some of them aren't just selling pot. And since the only people who have access to the harder drugs are people who also have access to pot, it only makes sense that the pot-smokers are going to be more likely to use those harder drugs.

And besides, how many people do you know who would do a line of coke or shoot up some heroin but refuse to ever smoke weed? It doesn't happen, because weed is an almost entirely harmless high in every respect, so practically anybody who's interested in getting high will have no problems indulging in it. The fact that harder drug users are almost all cannabis smokers does not mean cannabis directly causes people to use harder drugs; it means that users of harder drugs are also willing to use softer drugs to get high, just like somebody who enjoys drinking straight vodka is also very likely to enjoy beer.

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I think it just has to do with curiosity as far as substances go. Obviously alcohol and tobacco are usually first to open you up to the idea of 'different perspectives'...basically a change in physical/mental status...basically being 'high', or maybe just rebellion in some people. It's most likely cannabis comes next as it is the most available illegal substance, most popular illegal substance, and is deemed to be not as dangerous as anything else.

As your mind is now 'open' to the thought of feeling 'different' [high] and you realize that there are many other things in which cause various variations of feeling 'different'...it will cause curiosity to maybe dabble here and there.

At least that's how it was for me and many people I know...it wasn't so much as trying to find a 'stronger' high, but just a different high. This gets mixed up, thus the 'gateway theory'. I honestly believe it's a good thing to be curious...of course there should be enough common sense to not be curious about things like crack, dope, and meth...but that's up to the individual. Some people are oblivious and basically....well, stupid lol.

But, as long as you don't go with the crack, dope, or meth route...you will always come back to weed after your curiosity is fulfilled.

another thing is all the people that smoke weed just because of the mere fact that it illegal and i guess a rush of excitement for them to do something illegal. if you made it legal then who knows how many people wouldnt try harder drugs because they never tried weed.
i really do agree with the fact of meeting dealers to get weed that supply other, harder things as well.

That's a good point. Imagine how popular salvia would be if it was illegal. I bet there would be huge salvia smuggling rings all over. But since it's legal it's just an unknown and unpopular drug sitting on the shelves of head shops.

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too true...

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The above post is to be taken literally, I'm a criminal.

My friends brother used to run cocaine and snort a shit ton of it, but never considered it a drug. And he is completely against pot.

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"Prohibition . . . goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes . . . A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."
-Abraham Lincoln

people make there own choice to do harder drugs i know plenty of people whos first drug was something hard, alcohol is a harder drug and most people have done that first get a drunk guy whos never done any drug and tell him itll get him feelin good he will probably do it but get a stoned guy and all hell say is im good im already chilled the fuck out bro i do not belive it is a gateway drug

Of course there are exceptions, but I bet something like 90% of coke users would not turn down a joint, and at least 95% of them have smoked pot before. And those are the numbers that keep the gateway drug myth alive. People just don't know how to analyze statistics properly.

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I would say alcohol is more of a gate way drug than marijuana considering most people drink before any other substances and the main enviroment where people try other drugs and harder drugs is parties. Parties usually are focused around alcohol so alcohol > marijuana > hard drugs?

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People who are into hard drugs would be doing those hard drugs whether or not marijuana existed. End of story.

In other words marijuana is guilty until proven innocent.