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Alcohol: the Real Gateway Drug


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Alcohol Gateway Drug

The 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 60% of marijuana users went on to try other drugs, which appears to justify the “marijuana is a gateway drug” theory, except when you learn that 88% of drug users used alcohol before any other drug.

Treatment4Addiction analyzed the government study which revealed that alcohol is more of a catalyst for trying new drugs, therefore dismissing marijuana as the wrongly-accused “gateway drug.”

Miriam Boeri, a sociology professor at Bentley University does not believe one type of drug use leads to another. In an article, she pointed out that poverty, mental illness and peer group pressure are all much stronger predictors of drug use.

Scientist Denise Kandel of Columbia University, who coined the term “gateway drug,” recently told NPR that she just published a new paper on the topic and it shows that nicotine is biologically the most potent gateway of all. When rodents were primed with nicotine, then given cocaine, they liked the cocaine much more.


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Arizona legalized marijuana for recreational use in November 2020. The law allows adults aged 21+ to purchase, possess and use cannabis. State-licensed cannabis dispensaries began selling recreational marijuana in early 2021. There are over 150 dispensaries in Arizona — a majority of them are in populous areas such as Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff. Recreational cannabis delivery services began operating in 2024.  


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