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Is Marijuana a Gateway Drug?
The
drive to
marijuana
legalization has grown
more powerful as the crisis of heroin and opioid addiction has become more
troubling. Now some officials say efforts to legalize marijuana should stop
because, they say, greater availability would
increase use and marijuana can be a gateway to the use of
other drugs. But is marijuana a gateway drug and, for that reason, should it
remain illegal?
* drive = (조직적인) 운동/ marijuana = 마리화나, 대마초/ legalization = 적법화,
합법화/ opioid = 오피오이드 (아편 비슷한 작용을 하는 합성 진통·마취제)/ addiction = 중독/ availability =
유용성; (입수) 가능성/ a(the) gateway to ~ = ~에 이르는 길/ illegal
= 불법적인
대마초가 다른 마약으로 가는 중간 마약이라면 그 이유로 불법으로 남아야
하나요?
1. Marijuana Has Proven to Be a Gateway
Drug
Establishing it as a third legal drug, along with
tobacco and alcohol, will increase drug abuse, including the expanding opioid
epidemic.
2. Overdoses Fell with Medical
Marijuana Legalization
Medical marijuana might be safer for
chronic pain management than opioids but more research is
needed.
3. Fears of a Gateway Effect Vastly
Exceed the Evidence
The vast majority of people who use
marijuana never progress to using other illicit drugs, or even to becoming
regular marijuana consumers.
4. Look at the
Real Gateways to Addiction
Many promote myths about marijuana
to justify the use of law enforcement and the testing of people for public
benefits, jobs and exclusion from housing.
Sample
Essay
Marijuana Has
Proven to Be a Gateway Drug
It should come as no surprise
that the vast majority of heroin users have used marijuana (and many other
drugs) not only long before they used heroin but while they are using heroin.
Like nearly all people with substance abuse problems, most heroin users
initiated their drug use early in their teens, usually beginning with alcohol
and marijuana. There is ample evidence that early initiation of drug use primes
the brain for enhanced later responses to other drugs. These facts underscore
the need for effective prevention to reduce adolescent use of alcohol, tobacco
and marijuana in order to turn back the heroin and opioid epidemic and to reduce
burdens addiction in this country.
Marijuana use is positively
correlated with alcohol use and cigarette use, as well as illegal drugs like
cocaine and methamphetamine. This does not mean that everyone who uses marijuana
will transition to using heroin or other drugs, but it does mean that people who
use marijuana also consume more, not less, legal and illegal drugs than do
people who do not use marijuana.
People who are addicted to marijuana
are three times more likely to be addicted to heroin.
The legalization
of marijuana increases availability of the drug and acceptability of its use.
This is bad for public health and safety not only because marijuana use
increases the risk of heroin use.
A better drug policy is one that
actively discourages marijuana use as well as other recreational drug use,
especially for youth. The aggressive commercialization of marijuana that is now
rampant and still growing is particularly damaging to the public health because
it markets marijuana and an array of increasingly potent products in ever more
attractive ways that encourage marijuana use and frequent high-dose THC
use.
We are at a crossroads. Legalizing marijuana will have lasting
negative effects on future generations. The currently legal drugs, alcohol and
tobacco, are two of the leading causes of preventable illness and death in the
country. Establishing marijuana as a third legal drug will increase the national
drug abuse problem, including expanding the opioid epidemic.