Boeri, Miriam. “Is Marijuana a Gateway Drug?” Newsweek.com. Newsweek, 4 April 2015 web, 15 July 2105
Society has evolved the idea of marijuana being the gateway to other addictive and dangerous narcotics. According to Miriam Boeri, a journalist for Newsweek, argues that marijuana is not a gateway drug like we’ve come to believe with her article “Marijuana is not, I Repeat, not a Gateway Drug”. Boeri points out how marijuana is not the cause of gradual drug addiction when she writes “Research shows that the vast majority of marijuana users do not go on to hard drugs.” Boeri explains the different factors that do not make marijuana the portal to heroine, cocaine, and other drugs.
Boeri explains the biased research indicating how marijuana is the root of drug addiction. In a 2014 article by a neuroscientist named, Dr. Jodi Gilman, he explains how marijuana use can lead to drug addiction. Although, Boeri states how there have been many critics in the article writing “But other researchers were quick to point out the flaws of the Gilman study, such as a lack of careful controls for alcohol and other drug use by those whose brains were studied.” She also informs how researchers and authors don’t include users who have been doing cocaine at a young age and never tried marijuana. Boeri examines other factors that lead to drug addiction that don’t include marijuana such as poverty, poor social environment, bipolar disorder, antisocial personality, and so on.
Most of the research Beori relies on has to be from resources outside of the United States or grassroots within the U.S. She argues that it is difficult to research on the plant,because it is still a Schedule 1 drug, and it is difficult to get research for it approved by the Federal government. On the other hand, when the research is approved politics usually has the say in where the research leans toward when Boeri writes “For decades, scientists who study addiction have received millions of dollars in government and pharmaceutical funding to perpetuate the gateway hypothesis.” Most research for marijuana in the U.S is toward the gateway theory.
The scare method has a huge effect on the gateway theory. In Beori’s view, she states that the scare tactics for marijuana has been modernized used mainly by politicians. Their “drugs scares” are aimed at the youth, saying drug use will increase among them. Beori states “But fears of decriminalization resulting in increased use among youth haven’t been supported by research from countries where drugs were decriminalized.” making their statements invalid. She points out the use of marijuana among the young did not increase in states that had legalized medical marijuana.
This article made me realize that marijuana isn’t the cause for all drug addictions. I always had that in the back of my mind, if marijuana was the “gateway drug” and the main portal to drug addiction. There are many causes which lead to higher norcatic addiction, and the research behind it is very complicated. My opinion for marijuana has shifted a bit since reading this article, because marijuana is not the root of all evil. Like this article stated, there are people who have smoked, but stop after they reach adulthood. Although, marijuana will always be a very opinionated subject no matter what side of the debate I am with.