Study says marijuana no gateway drug

American Euphoria
by

Richard Wilmot Ph.D.
dr.docwilmot@gmail.com

PREFACE

Even though most psychoactive drugs in America are illegal, there are so many drug problems in this country that experts have termed drug abuse an epidemic. Yet our knowledge of drugs and drug use and abuse is inadequate. How much is too much? What does “getting high,” mean to the drug user? Are you an addict or a label?

The purpose of writing this book is to answer questions such as these. The ideas and analysis presented here views “addiction” from a new and different perspective. It is a holistic approach to drug/alcohol use and abuse that will help to question current drug treatment and drug policy authority.

Do the current perspectives on alcohol and drug abuse need to be questioned? After spending more than twenty years as a drug abuse counselor, researcher and educator, I believe they do. It is time for reform. It’s time for a change in thinking about euphoric drugs in general. It’s time for critical thinking about drug issues.

My passion for drug studies grew out of my own experience with a variety of drugs, with the drug subculture while in college and later working in the “culture of recovery”. After having worked for the Addiction Research Foundation in Toronto, Canada, I received a scholarship to complete a specialized graduate degree (Ph.D.) in Drug Studies at the University of California at San Diego and spent years in the recovery field from doing research, drug counseling clients on Skid row as well as those in the film industry, editing the Journal of Drug Issues, lecturing at the Drug Policy Foundation in Washington D.C., and teaching courses in Drug Studies.

This book focuses on the divisions between the “recovery culture” and the “drug culture”. Simply put, members of the drug culture have an acceptance of drug use while the recovery culture has an abstinence only approach. They are exclusive subcultures with little communication or acceptance of each other… although the culture of recovery is considerably more politically powerful. When one enters treatment, one must become an active, participating member in the recovery culture or risk becoming a treatment failure. One must drop all ties and interests in the drug culture and become committed only to the culture of recovery. Recovery, from the standpoint of the “culture of recovery” must be one of “higher power” conversion.

Acknowledging that “addicts” could benefit from some of their drug experiences or part of their drug culture experience is unthinkable from the perspective of orthodox recovery. From the position of rehabilitation, all drug use is bad and any use is unacceptable. The people, places, and things that are associated with the drug culture must be disavowed. They are “triggers” to further drug use. Everything about the drug subculture is anathema from tattoos to clothing styles.

Yet over my years in the fields of drug studies and treatment, I realized that much of what treatment had to say about “addiction” and the “addicts” themselves was based on stereotypes, stigmatization, ignorance, arrogance, and outright bigotry. Perhaps this is why eight out of every ten people entering recovery go back to using drugs.

Historically there are a number of well-adjusted persons who made outstanding contributions to society, and took euphoric drugs. I have witnessed the same: people doing things that the recovery culture claimed were not possible for someone who regularly used drugs. These people would have been labeled “addicts” had they been noticed or caught. They were not “victims” of drugs; they had their use under control even though some used daily e.g. Pope Leo XIII. This history of controlled drug use led me to wonder about the differences between those whose drug use was non-problematic and those who abused.

Traditional thinking is that the difference is physiological. Addicts are different biologically. They are allergic to alcohol or another drug; they have a “genetic predisposition” to abuse; they have “addictive personalities”. The scientific evidence for each of these perspectives is in dispute. Essentially there are those who understand “addiction” to be a controllable behavior and there are those who believe addiction is a disease. Yet the “treatment” for the “disease” of addiction” focuses on “character defects” and surrender to a “Higher Power” i.e. healing by faith.

Rather, the most recent thinking is that “getting high: or “altering consciousness” is a universal biological drive arising out of the innate structure of the human brain. In other words, we are all “hard wired” to get “high”.

Viewing intoxication as a biological inevitability gives us a better understanding of how drug use differs from drug abuse. Such use is not necessarily immoral or pathological but natural. Much like sex, drug use for humans is a natural drive. Everyone has a need to alter their consciousness and they will do so even at their own peril… from sky diving to smoking “crack” cocaine. The challenge for society is to address this biologically based need to “alter consciousness” in safe, non-abusive ways that will provide people with the “peak experiences” they universally crave. Furthermore, there is a non-abusive code for “getting high” that can be learned so that people who drink or take other drugs do not end-up embarrassed , sick, dependent or dead.

To paraphrase this book: the ways in which we talk about drugs both to ourselves and to others perpetuates many of the problems with drugs. The content of what we have to say about drugs is a reflection of our puritan culture and our personal history.

The answer to our current drug abuse dilemma is to: “just say know” to drugs. This book intends to further that process. The next major civil rights issue to be addressed in America will be the decriminalization of drug use.

Weed has been studied for over 25 years. Where have you gotten your info from because you are SERIOUSLY mistaken. As clinical research into the therapeutic value of cannabinoids has proliferated – there are now more than 17,000 published papers in the scientific literature analyzing marijuana and its constituents — so too has investigators' understanding of cannabis' remarkable capability to combat disease. Whereas researchers in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s primarily assessed cannabis' ability to temporarily alleviate various disease symptoms — such as the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy — scientists today are exploring the potential role of cannabinoids to modify disease.
Investigators are also studying the anti-cancer activities of cannabis, as a growing body of preclinical and clinical data concludes that cannabinoids can reduce the spread of specific cancer cells via apoptosis (programmed cell death) and by the inhibition of angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels). Arguably, these latter trends represent far broader and more significant applications for cannabinoid therapeutics than researchers could have imagined some thirty or even twenty years ago.
State facts instead of your opinion and I might actually listen to you.

The reason that there are more teens in treatment is because their are more court referrals and/or other (family, friend, employer) referrals to treatment. When a kid gets in trouble for marijuana they give them a choice between treatment and a harsher punishment. Which would you choose?

There should be new laws to help mitigate this. It is a sad fact but it is reality. Many teens are abusing the loophole which leads to addiction. I did a study at an Addiction Treatment Clinic in Malibu and I was surprise to see the statistics that more teens this year has been treated as compared to last year for marijuana abuse.

Ive Smoked Weed Just Hada Cone Its Kept Me Healthy And I Just Wanna Say Its A Persons Choice To Decide Whether Or Not 2 Drop An Acid Trip Or Take A Line Of E. Statiistics Have No effect on The Persons Mind At The Time
yo
west

what does that have to do with weed? That is what everyone says on that side of the argument - you say we don't know anything but then you have nothing to back it up. Marijuana has been something that people have studied for a long time because they like it. it didnt just start getting studied. People have been learning about weed for years because they enjoy smoking it and want to learn more about it. Weed is in no way worse than cigarrettes. Everyone that i know that smokes cigs coughs up black stuff and is miserable whenever they exercise. i smoke weed everyday and i have no problem exercising. So dont give me that crap. Weed is not good for you, but anything that makes you feel good is probably not good for you (except for one thing but i think we can all figure out what it is).

I have no problem accepting that weed is a bad thing if there is legitimate info to back it up.

you are an idiot and shouldn't even be allowed near a computer.

Weed has NEVER NEVER, NEVER been HARDLY even studied until recently. YOUR INHALING SMOKE, but weed is worse. YES WORSE THEN CIGS. Why does everybody or, at least a lot, say "ooo its not harmful, its good for you, its not a drug its a herbbb." ITS BC THATS ALL THEY KNOW. just because it feels good and makes so called "better", doesn't been its actually GOOD AND HEALTHY.
Take for example RX drugs. Yea they are good for you and to help you, BUT HOW LONG DO MOST OF THEM STAY ON THE MARKET BECAUSE THEY CAUSE DEALTH OR COMPLICATIONS???
because they've never been fully studied and not always actually "good for you"

ignorant in so many ways.................there is nothing wrong with marijuana just like there is nothing wrong with coca leaves. once you start to add artificial chemicals then you have drugs. marijuana has been studied by top scientist but their work has been shunned from the medical community. marijuana honestly can not be abused. cigarettes and alcohol(both legal) are substances you can actually abuse. now common sense should kick in and you start asking yourself why is it illegal. but no one would really tell you why. you ask yourself the pros and cons and you dont know what to believe. think about the fact that people can drive high/stoned but people can not drive drunk. now alcohol and cigarettes (both addicting) are the legal ones. both can kill you. go online and try and look for marijuana related deaths. there are none. we need to be fighting against real drugs such as cocaine meth crack etc.... you know the actual drugs that are harmful instead of a stress reliever. oh and for those who say that it is wrong to use it because you will not learn how to cope with life problems. then people should stop going to yoga classes or aroma therapy or masoose parlors because these are all things that help cope with stress................. maybe people are just ignorant in so many ways.

love the way you put it ,yust comes to so how ganja inprove brain power. 2 be able to think straight without crooked ways. God bless!!!

I think marijuana is definitely a drug It is classified as so by the FDA and people are addicted to it.

i love everything about what you said right here

It's funny, all the things that you would miss when your not surrounded by them anymore. And for that we have this word addiction that people mess around with way too much. What is the purpose of the word, when it is today, the definition of just 'missing' something.

Try go without internet for a while (It's possible, but why?)
Try go without electricity for a while (It's also possible but also not so entertaining)
Try go without your car for a while (Also possible but could end up with you loosing your job)

Why not step it up a notch? Stop with something for good. Let's start with;

Stop using your bed (Also possible, but would probably end up with sleeping distortions)
Stop using all forms of medications (Also possible, but why not medicate when we can?)
Stop using your brain (Because maybe you shouldn't have in the first place.)

It's not only pot that gives you dangerous satisfactions. Don't be tempted people! By all means sleep on the floor, learn to accept the darkness, don't even look at a television (it's like heroin), no internet, never electricity it's a gateway to internet & television, love, coffe, clothes of all kind, don't talk, don't do anything because it can be too tough to be without one day.

Missing someone or something is a part of what makes us human beings, and people want to prevent that?

(The text is definitely not eye-candy & probably just pure-nonsense. This is what came to my mind when i started to read what I did not finish on this page.)

I've seen from personal experience that it is a gateway drug.

After all these years of an insane drug policy based on misinformation we are starting to finally see a little bit of light. Marijuana doesn't lead to crack! Duh!

Jason

Yes its true that enviormental circumstances play into drug use. However, drugs lead to worser circumstances and cause more damage to that individual. Then for say his original bad circumstance at home as a child. If that child grew into an adult without drugs he would overcome his original bad circumstance most likely. However, growing up and using drugs most likely that bad circumstance would be repeated onto the next generation through spawn. Legalizing marajuana will encourage more drug use. If we as a society legalize marajuana we are saying mood altering substances are excepted among society as a way of coping with life. Whether one use mood altering substances to socialize, relax, or for boredom it is all counterproductive ,and a method of coping. People that wouldn't normally use marajuana because it's illegal would end up using it. If it is a gateway drug even in a small percentage. We would see a rise in illegal drug use. Alchohol and synthetic drugs have harmed society enough why add one more to the nightmare we are already dealing with. I work for a drug rehab and see the results of drug use everyday. We as an organization work hard on focusing on drug prevention directed towards our youth. Legalization of marajuana would contradict every effort our drug preventionist have done towards our younger generation to discourage any use mood altering substances. Drugs are destructive to the well being of our society period.

One does NOT get addicted to marijuana, at least not to the point that you need rehab. We don't NEED to smoke pot like a heroin addict NEEDS to get their fix. We just like to smoke because it makes just about everything better!

Well, i've smoked weed for about 10 years, i hold a successful job, am in great physical shape, have never went on to harder drugs, pay my bills, clean license, great lover(so i've been told)..... also i have multiple friends who only smoke weed, heck, dont even drink alchohol, and if used in a Vaporizer weed has no long term affects on your health. People need to stop making assumptions cause they cant handle their own addictions and want to ruin it for everyone else......

sooo if i get fed candy when i'm a kid, does that mean i'm gonna grow up to have a fatty ice cream, chocolate cake, sugary, horrible diet?!!!!!
no no, its called self control

It just seems that people have become sooo softened over the years, instead of realizing they have a problem and confronting it, they have to come up with some medical term to give them an excuse "oh its not my fault cause my daddy drank and my mommy was overweight so i can live my life like that and shouldnt recieve any blame" straight BS

Sure hereditary situations can have effects on people, but(for the most part) instead of getting another drug from the Doc to fix the problem, the real prescriptions should be hard work, dedication, and willpower, the only true way to overcome your problems.....

How come this study only focused on marijuana, alcohol and weed? How many of those who participated ended up using harder drugs? How can they determine which is a gateway drug without that additional info?

the question you should be looking at is how many of the total population of those who smoke weed end up in rehabs?

dude weed is badass cant wait to get home from school an blaze it up..

WELL?

there have been studies i lost them but they were something like for every like 15 drunk driving accidents there is 1 marijuana related driving accident
but pots pretty damn harmless on its own

..

The argument they will always have on their side is, "Knowing that marajuana is illegal, why would someone risk so much to use and possess it?" The definition of addiction is the "allure of doing something repeatedly which has negative consequences and disregarding the risk."

..

THEY SAID WEED WOULDNT LEAD TO HARDER DRUGS... THEY LIED?

or did they?