STUDY SAYS MARIJUANA DOES NOT LEAD TO HARD DRUGS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Countering a basic principle of American anti-drug
policies, an independent U.S. study concluded on Monday that marijuana use
does not lead teenagers to experiment with hard drugs like heroin or cocaine.

The study by the private, nonprofit RAND Drug Policy Research Center
rebutted the theory that marijuana acts as a so-called gateway drug to more
harmful narcotics, a key argument against legalizing pot in the United States.

The researchers did not advocate easing restrictions in marijuana, but
questioned the focus on this substance in drug control efforts.

Using data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse between 1982
and 1994, the study concluded teenagers who took hard drugs were
predisposed to do so whether they tried marijuana first or not.

"Kids get their first opportunity to use marijuana years before they get
their first exposure to hard drugs," said Andrew Morral, lead author of the
RAND study.

"Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It's just the first thing kids often come
across."

Morral said 50 percent of U.S. teenagers had access to marijuana by the age
of 16, while the majority had no exposure to cocaine, heroin or
hallucinogens until they were 20.

The study, published in the British journal Addiction, does not advocate
legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, which has been linked to
side-effects including short-term memory loss.

But given limited resources, Morral said the U.S. government should
reconsider the prominence of marijuana in its much-publicized "war on drugs."

"To a certain extent we are diverting resources away from hard drug
problems," he said. "Spending money on marijuana control may not be having
downstream consequences on the use of hard drugs."

Researchers say predisposition to drug use has been linked to genetic
factors and one's environment, including family dynamics and the
availability of drugs in the neighborhood.