What is the TRUE gateway to drugs... marijuana or alcohol? Everywhere you look they refer to marijuana as the "gateway to drugs" but I just don't believe that to be true.
First of all, think of it this way. How can marijuana be the gateway to drugs if it's considered a drug itself? You don't just wake up one day and decide to do drugs. Not to mention, you have to know where to get the drugs. So what better way to open your mind to the idea of experimenting with drugs than alcohol.
As a teen, when you drink alcohol you are typically among friends. Friends get together, start to drink, and once they are feeling good they are much more open to the idea of trying something else. I cannot tell you how many times I have been to a party and seen teens willing to smoke marijuana, take pills (not knowing what they even are), snort cocaine, or pretty much do anything else that's available.
These are not the teens that use drugs on a daily basis, but your every day teen that just gets caught in the moment. They may or may not continue to use drugs after they become sober. But the fact remains, the first time a teen will most likely experiment with drugs is when they are using alcohol.
Marijuana simply happens to be the first drug a teen will typically experiment with for one reason... its the most common. But most teens I interviewed who smoked marijuana first didn't venture on to different drugs. They stuck with marijuana.
I conducted thousands of interviews with American teens and over 90% of them tried a drug for the first time when they were drinking alcohol. Those numbers are astounding!
So I ask again, whats the true gateway to drugs? The answer is alcohol.
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