The flaw in the analogy can also be applied to the argument about violent criminals. The majority of people on hard drugs started on soft drugs and even while being hard drug users, continue to use soft drugs just to keep a level.

 

we just proved he is a DL sock

 

Gateway drug is not a myth. Nobody graduates with honors and decides to one day just try meth at the drop of a hat.

 

ya wanna bet?
i had a freind that was a suma cum laude graduate
he became a mayor of a city at a very young age
never touched drugs or alcohol
one day he was given cocaine from a donator
it ened up killing him at age 23

 

I need a line right now...

 

Ah, I see new friendships being made in this thread...

 

im not an aussie fruit or a hedgehog
try again

 

I was speaking of an individual with their own plants, not dealers

 

The sales of marijuana in Colorado, under the law, amounted to $700 million the first year, net tax revenue was $33 million, the budget is $3.3 billion, thus the 1% number.

The office to control the pot sales costs are spread over state and local administrations, if you consider the budget for both state and local governments in Colorado, the total is over $5.2 billion, making the revenue from pot sales even punier.

The street price of black market pot in Colorado is significantly lower the price of legal marijuana, making it consumer attractive. In order to bring the pricing into line, more (not less) illegal drug enforcement will be needed.

This whole idea seems to be ill conceived and poorly executed, something like Obamacare.

Personally, I am in favor of legalizing all drugs, regulating their sale and use, and decriminalizing addiction. But, I also am a realist, this can not happen on the local level, it needs to be national.

 

The Gateway myth has been debunked over and over again. In fact, the majority of hard drug users started out with tobacco and alcohol way before they even tried marijuana.
One other thing is that when marijuana is illegal, it's sold on the streets by black market drug dealers. These black market dealers also have access to harder drugs and they will gladly sell those drugs to anybody who has the money. They don't do I.D. checks.. This is what happens when there is no regulation.

At any rate, a Rand Study is just one report saying that marijuana is not a gateway to hard drug use. “While the gateway theory has enjoyed popular acceptance, scientists have always had their doubts,” said lead researcher Andrew Morral, associate director of Rand’s Public Safety and Justice unit. “Our study shows that these doubts are justified.” http://www.rand.org/news.html
“According to a study to be published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, cannabis does not lead to the use of hard drugs” http://www.drugscience.org/sfu/sfu_gateway.html

 

Now you're just lying. I never said the Dewey decimal number was fake. But I will say you're a fake.

 

And yet, there are MANY alcohol drinkers (pot smokers) that never progress beyond using that drug. Just look how many people who have a drink or two every night. Why are they not hardcore heroin addicts?

 

Addiction is not usually substance related, initially, however the chemical addiction that follows generally is.

Most people can drink alcohol in moderation with little, to no, chemical addiction risk. The risk comes when the consumption is not in moderation, and this usually is because of a personality disorder such as OCD, anxiety or depression. Those who use marijuana regularly will likely graduate to harder drugs IF they have those same personality disorders.

 

There's plenty of good reasons against buying illegal weed in Colorado. You'd be buying from an unsafe source in perhaps a dangerous environment. You wouldn't be purchasing world class and lab tested safe weed. You wouldn't get your choice of what variety you prefer, it would likely be Mexican crapweedand you must wait until you can meet up with your dealer. Or you can go to a customer safe, secure retail site and purchase your safe, lab tested world class weed in a friendly environment.

Colorado is working on it and they will lower their tax rate to help compensate but what really needs to happen is to end marijuana prohibition. Even though a few states have legalized weed, the risk is still with the federal government. Consumers will always be able to get their weed but those in the business risk losing it all and even be jailed by the federal government. Marijuana prices still reflect the risk they are taking and it won't change by a lot until the risk goes away. Illegal pot growers can't compete with the American farmer once prohibition is repealed.

 

Right! And Bible Study pupils will turn to hard drugs IF they have those personality disorders also.

 

All well and good, but we are talking about the reality of the moment.

 

Not true, even remotely.

A person becomes an addict ONLY if they indulge in the use of the addictive substance. A person who uses a non-addictive substance to satisfy the demands of a personality disorder (ie: relieving anxiety) can be more easily be convinced to use other such substances that are chemically addictive.

 

Get this.
A study published by the National Institute of Health, says marijuana may be an effective treatment in curing people of addiction from hard drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines also. For the study, researchers found that “cannabinoids modulate brain reward systems closely involved in stimulants addiction, and provide further evidence that the cannabinoid system could be explored as a potential drug discovery target for treating addiction across different classes of stimulants.”
It's all right here.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3780360/

There's also many drunks who just can't or won't live a life of sobriety. They can improve their lives, their families lives and stay off the sauce simply by switching to much, much safer marijuana.

It's funny. After all the reefer madness, marijuana turns out to be kind of a miracle plant...

 

I'm not disputing the benefits of marijuana to some people.
I'm not suggesting that it should be made illegal or prohibited.
I'm not disparaging states that have decriminalized it or who have legalized it.

However, I am not so sure that it does not pose as a crutch for those who have personality disorders which make them subject to addictions. Too many people, in the quest to enlighten, tend to gloss over the bad effects of their chosen mood changer.

 

My point was in reference to pot (and alcohol) being "gateway" drugs. I've smoked pot for years, and there had not been one incident where I've gotten high then said, "Wow, this pot makes me want to do some heroin/crack/or-some-other-stupid-drug!"

This whole notion of some drug being a "gateway" is pure bunk. Anyone who tries harder drugs is doing them because they are curious about it, not because they were intoxicated with some other substance.

On edit: You are very wrong about regular pot smokers. If that were true, alcohol would be the worst "gateway" drug, but you NEVER hear anyone put that idea out there because alcohol is legal and the manufacturers would sue over it, just like the beef industry sued Oprah over her comments about beef.