There is a link between using one
drug and using many drugs irrespective of whether the
drug is legal or illegal. People are either inclined
to be drug-takers or they are not. This partly
reflects the stress under which they live and partly
their role models. Parents who smoke and drink are
more likely to have children who take these and other
drugs. Taking one drug does NOT cause people to take
other drugs.
Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs report 'The classification of cannabis under
the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971':
"4.6 Does cannabis use lead on to other
drug use?
4.6.2 Even if the gateway theory is correct, it
cannot be a particularly wide gate as the majority of
cannabis users never move on to Class A drugs.
4.6.3 ….studies have found that the use of
alcohol and tobacco in early teens (and especially in
pre-adolescents) appears to be associated with the
later use of many drugs including cannabis. In all
these [gateway] studies there is a distinct
possibility that the driving factor in the misuse of
drugs is the personality and/or peer group of the
subject rather than the drug itself.
4.6.5 Some Class A drug dealers also deal in cannabis.
A shared market increases the opportunities for
acquiring and maintaining dependency on Class A drugs.
The lower level of heroin use in the Netherlands, as
compared with the UK, is claimed to be due to the
separation of markets."
http://www.doh.gov.uk/drugs/acmd/cannabisreportmar02.pdf
The Police Foundation's 'Runciman
Report':
"7.16 In our view nothing has emerged to
disturb the conclusions of the Advisory Committee on
Drug Dependence in 1968, when they said that there
was no convincing evidence that cannabis use in
itself led to heroin use.
7.18 If there is anything at all in the gateway
theory, it is likely to be found in the structure of
illegal markets."
www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/runciman/default.htm
European Monitoring Centre for
Drugs and Drug Addiction:
"The Lisbon-based European Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said that at
least 45m Europeans had now tried it, up 5m from more
than a year ago. "Recreational use of cannabis
is simply not considered as the first step down the
road to drug abuse," George Estievenart,
director of the centre, told reporters in Brussels."
http://society.guardian.co.uk/drugsandalcohol/story/0,8150,410362,00.html
NHS Health Development Agency:
"Some people believe that cannabis is a
'gateway' drug and think that cannabis users are more
likely to go on to use harder drugs such as heroin.
There is no evidence to support this belief."
www.trashed.co.uk/drugs/cannabis/risks.html
"While it is undoubtedly the case that many
drug addicts started with cannabis, to claim that
taking cannabis is bound to lead to hard drugs has
always seemed to me far-fetched."
Jack Straw, The Daily Telegraph, 3
April 2000
Home Office:
"There is a link between using illegal drugs and
the early use of tobacco, alcohol and volatile
substances"
p.6, 'Assessing Local Need - planning
services for young people'
