homework help: Why is cannabis called a “gateway drug”? - Help.com

I haven’t heard it called a gateway drug. I suppose because it can lead to harder drug use it’s like a “gateway” in to another world…of drugs. I don’t think that it necessarily does lead to harder drug use, but I think it is generally the rule of thumb.

For a lot of people it leads to harder drugs, but not for everyone. Some people get used to the high, so they move on to harder drugs to get the same effect.

The reason it’s called a gateway drug is because of the tolerance that everyone builds to drugs. Pot is a relatively harmless drug, and because of this most drug addicts begin as users of cannabis. They eventually build up a tolerance to the drug, which makes it more difficult to get high. And because of this, it acts as a starting point for people to use more powerful and dangerous narcotics and opiates in order to get the high they can’t get with pot anymore.

I’ve used marijuana on and off over a period of 15 years, and I’ve never even tried any other drugs because I think they’re disgusting. In fact, I know this sounds dumb, but I’m very anti drug when it comes to those “other” drugs. If that makes any sense.

So, I guess it just depends on the person really.

Like, if I ever found out my children were using marijuana, I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I wouldn’t have a coronry over it. But if I ever caught them using anything else. I’d cut off all their fingers :)

They should change the name of this site to homeworkhelp.com

Fazerella wrote:

jcd wrote:
They should change the name of this site to homeworkhelp.com

I know.
I keep relying on this website for homework help.
And thats not good. o.o

It’s all that cannabis you’re smoking. It’s making you sluggish!

Especially if someone gives you the wrong answer.

No. Having smoked pot for years, I can tell you it had nothing to do with me trying any other drugs. I had wanted to do the ones I’ve done since D.A.R.E. told us what they did.

D.A.R.E. is my gateway drug.

Godfather wrote:
The reason it’s called a gateway drug is because of the tolerance that everyone builds to drugs. Pot is a relatively harmless drug, and because of this most drug addicts begin as users of cannabis. They eventually build up a tolerance to the drug, which makes it more difficult to get high. And because of this, it acts as a starting point for people to use more powerful and dangerous narcotics and opiates in order to get the high they can’t get with pot anymore.

I don’t know how true the name is, but this ^^^ is why it is called a gateway drug.

Godfather wrote:

Godfather wrote:
The reason it’s called a gateway drug is because of the tolerance that everyone builds to drugs. Pot is a relatively harmless drug, and because of this most drug addicts begin as users of cannabis. They eventually build up a tolerance to the drug, which makes it more difficult to get high. And because of this, it acts as a starting point for people to use more powerful and dangerous narcotics and opiates in order to get the high they can’t get with pot anymore.

I don’t know how true the name is, but this ^^^ is why it is called a gateway drug.

That’s the myth. I know the real reason. See, I can get high off of any pot, and I’ve been smoking heavily for years. No one buys other drugs because they’re the same as pot, but stronger. Only someone who knows nothing of drug effects can perpetuate that. Acid is nothing like pot, coke is nothing like shrooms. They just don’t compare. People say it’s a gateway drug because your dealer is usually a pot dealer, who happens to have some other stuff he tries to sell because he doesn’t want it. So, curious people, such as myself, who have always wanted to try such things are opened to a OPPORTUNITY through pot. But it has nothing to do with the chemicals, just availability.

Oh, and the fact the booze is legal but pot isn’t pisses me all kinds of off.

Oh, and I agree with the way you describe the effects of pot, Supa Steve, but I’d want to expand it; at least to the point of mentioning that there are so many strains of bud at this point, that many have very different effects. I won’t go into the details unless asked, but it should be mentioned.

Supa Fly Steve wrote:
And what’s even more fantastic is that the biggest peddlers of cocaine in the world are…the CIA.

See, that I don’t know anything about. I did coke once, and swore it off, so didn’t do much research into it.

I dislike it because it’s too expensive, too addictive, it only lasts about 25 mins, and I like being able to be happy without it.

Cannabis is called a ‘gateway drug’ as a marketing ploy to advance funding of the anti-drug wars. If cannabis was legal, we could not justify spending billion of dollars on this so called war, because hard drug use is so limited in this country. Actually, the true gateway drugs are alcohol and tobacco, but both of those substances are backed by huge corporations, that make huge profits selling those two substances which are both harmful and addictive, but money talks in Washington (unfortunately).

You may notice that no one says cannabis causes 430,000 deaths each year (like tobacco), or 85,000 annual deaths (like tobacco) or even 17,000 deaths (from other illicit drug use like heroin and cocaine), because no one dies from cannabis. So, it has to be associated with something bad, hence the terminology ‘gateway drug’.

If you write these statistics in your class, you will get a lot of push-back from your teachers, but someone has to tell the truth. Glad you are researching it. An excellent source of information is the website drugwarfacts dot com.