DEBUNKING THE CANNABIS GATEWAY THEORY

I agree with letter writer Ken Lane that the press should take cannabis
more seriously, (Pot is a 'gateway drug,' Dec. 27). Journalists cannot seem
to resist making tiresome pot puns. However, Lane is quite mistaken about
cannabis being a "gateway" to other "controlled" substances.

The World Health Organization's investigation into the gateway effect
stated emphatically that the theory that cannabis use leads to heroin use
is "the least likely of all hypotheses."

In March 1999, the Institute of Medicine concluded, "Whereas the stepping
stone hypothesis presumes a predominantly physiological component of drug
progression, the gateway theory is a social theory. The latter does not
suggest that the pharmacological qualities of marijuana make it a risk
factor for progression to other drug use. Instead, the legal status of
marijuana makes it a gateway drug." In other words, the sociological
correlation between cannabis and other illicit substances is a consequence
of cannabis prohibition.

Further, studies conducted in American states and Australian territories
that have decriminalized cannabis have found that cannabis is more often
than not a substitute for other recreational substances, especially
alcohol. Contrary to the now debunked gateway theory, researchers have
found that when cannabis use goes up, other drug and alcohol use, overdose
deaths, accidents and violence go down.

Matthew M. Elrod, Media Awareness Project, Victoria