DRUG STUDY CHALLENGES `GATEWAY' THEORY OF USAGE

People born after the 1960s are less likely than baby boomers to go from
using marijuana to heroin and other hard drugs, according to a private
study that challenges the so-called gateway theory of drug abuse.

The White House's drug policy office expressed doubts about the study and
suggested it could undermine attempts to prevent drug use among youth.

The study published in February's edition of the American Journal of Public
Health concludes that a rise in marijuana use among young people during the
1990s is unlikely to result in an epidemic of hard-drug use in the near future.

Researchers analyzed data about adolescent drug use reported by more than
100,000 people who participated in the government's annual National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse between 1979 and 1997.