Weed isn’t actually a ‘gateway drug’, scientists say – and alcohol is far worse

Rob Waugh

(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

If you believe anti-drug activists, weed is a ‘gateway drug’ – and one puff on a joint will probably lead to you injecting heroin a few months down the line.

But a collection of charts on decades of drug use in the United States – shown off on the website of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy – show that isn’t true.

The Brian C Bennett Drug charts trace the pattern of drug use for more than 40 years, according to William Martin, director of the Baker Institute’s Drug Policy Program.

Martin says, ‘Marijuana’s reputation as a “gateway” drug is not supported, even for more marijuana use. More than half of respondents under 60 have used it during their lifetime, but fewer than 10 percent use it regularly.

‘Far fewer people progress to harder drugs. Current monthly use of cocaine is 0.6 percent; for heroin and methamphetamines, only 0.2 percent.

‘Alcohol causes far more personal and social damage than any other drug. Illegal drugs comprise less than 20 percent of substance-use disorders in the U.S.