Does Cannabis Use Pave the Way to Harder Drug Use?
Cannabis, while legal in Canada for over a year, still faces a ton of negative stigmas. Most of the more common stigmas surrounding cannabis, which were initially created and promoted as propaganda and misinformation designed to try to make it less appealing to the general public, have been squashed by science and logic, but some still remain and are harder to disprove.
One of the most common stigmas about cannabis is that it acts as a gateway drug. Simply put, this stigma suggests that if you consume cannabis, your resistance to harder drugs will be reduced as your enjoyment of the cannabis’ effects goes down or is no longer sufficient, leaving you to explore harder drugs as you attempt to satisfy your need to achieve more satisfying highs.
Of course, if this was true, then we would likely see a much higher correlation between the millions of cannabis users, and, what would likely become, millions of heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine addicts.
Fortunately, this high correlation doesn’t exist, in fact, it isn’t even close.
“But Chad, I know of a lot of people that started off smoking cannabis before moving onto stronger drugs.”
I have no doubt that this is true of many cannabis users, and would agree that, generally speaking, anyone willing to try one drug would be more likely to try another over someone that doesn’t want to try any, but this is not the same conclusion as those who suggest a chemical correlation between using cannabis and a body’s reduced inability to avoid subsequent harder drug use.
To be fair, some tests conducted on animals have led researchers to believe that it’s tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use that more often can “prime” the brain for heightened responses to other drugs, in a process called “cross-sensitization,” but this isn’t a proven theory for animals or humans, and is more about the effects felt than an increased desire to consume.
That said, research does support the theory that harder drug use does have the potential to stem more from the peers you associate with than from a chemical factor induced by cannabis.
In fact, a 2014 study by researchers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette found there was a much higher association between cannabis and alcohol use than between cannabis and hard drugs, and that the only scientific links found between cannabis and harder drugs were exclusively based on cultural and social factors.
Furthermore, as cannabis is one of the easiest drugs to find, especially since legalization, it makes sense that those who choose to take drugs would likely find a way to get cannabis long before they could ever find heroin, cocaine or meth, and that those who know where to get one drug, may be more likely to have a line on others, but again, the use of one is not directly correlated to the use of the other.
As we mentioned above with our reference to the lack of millions of hard drug addicts despite millions of cannabis users, most people who try cannabis never go on to use, or become dependent on, harder illegal drugs.
For most people, cannabis is an endpoint in their journey for a plant medicine that can provide the relief and positive effects they seek, without the addiction, side effects or costs of alternatives.
In fact, as the world begins to admit and address their opioid crisis, evidence suggests that cannabis can be highly instrumental as an “exit drug,” that helps addicts reduce or eliminate their use of more harmful drugs by easing their withdrawal symptoms.
In conclusion, there just isn’t any evidence to suggest that cannabis will automatically lead to anything more than an open mind — from there the choices are yours.
Curious if cannabis is good or bad for you? Check out this blog: Is Cannabis Bad for You