The introductory drug to hard drugs is not cannabis, but alcohol
Researchers at the University of Florida have found that the “gateway drug” theory is not associated with marijuana. The results of the Guttman scale indicate that alcohol is the gateway drug. This leads to the consumption of tobacco, and other illicit substances. Additionally, students who consumed alcohol “showed a significantly greater likelihood of using both legal and illegal drugs. "
Start-up to hard drugs
In an interview with Raw Story, co-author Adam E. Barry said his studies aimed to correct some of the propaganda that has infected American culture since the days of the "joint madness."
“Some of those early iterations needed to be fleshed out. That is why we wanted to study this issue. The final form of the Gateway Theory is that it starts with [cannabis] and eventually moves on to what laypersons often refer to as "harder drugs." As you can see from the results of our study, it confirms this hypothesis. But it follows the progression of licit substances, in particular alcohol, and switches to illicit substances. Mr. Barry said.
These results go hand in hand with an 2012 study at Yale, according to which'alcohol and cigarettes were much more likely than marijuana to precede opioid abuse.
Student studies
The researchers used a nationally representative sample of high school seniors. This is to assess data collected as part of the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future survey. She tracks trends in drug use among young people in the United States. Barry's study focused on data collected from 14 577th graders from 120 public and private schools in the United States.
By comparing rates of substance abuse between drinkers and non-drinkers, researchers found that high school seniors who had consumed alcohol at least once in their life
In the student sample, alcohol was also the most commonly consumed substance. In comparison, 45% of students reported having used tobacco and 43,3% cited cannabis use.
“The results of this survey confirm that alcohol should receive special attention in school substance abuse prevention programs. This is because the consumption of other substances could be influenced by delaying or preventing alcohol consumption. Therefore, it seems prudent for school and public health officials to focus their prevention efforts, policies and funds on adolescent alcohol use. The study concludes.
Brain damage
Scientists had already discovered that cannabis, a therapeutic healing herb, could actually reduce brain damage caused by alcohol. A 2013 study by the University of Kentucky and the University of Maryland concluded that a chemical in marijuana called cannabidiol (CBD) could be used to treat neurodegeneration.
The results of a very recent study have led to the conclusion that "illegal" marijuana is by far the safest "legal" drug. From the results, the researchers agreed that cannabis is 114 times less deadly than alcohol. In a report on the consumption of alcohol in the world and its negative consequences on health, the agencyWHO points out that alcohol consumption kills more than AIDS, tuberculosis and violence combined.
Alcohol kills some 3 million people around the world each year. This represents one in twenty deaths, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday, September 21. Cannabis, as a natural plant, has never killed anyone !!!
