Gateway Drugs
See
"Those who insist on keeping the plant illegal bear a serious degree of moral responsibility for young marijuana users who do go on to use cocaine, heroin, PCP or other genuinely dangerous or addictive drugs."
Alan Bock, of the Orange County Register On the Real Gateway

Look to the science. The science tell us that preventing or delaying tobacco and alcohol use prevents or delays the use of other drugs as well.

The statistical association is strong between adolescents’ use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.

• For boys, alcohol is the precursor to marijuana and illegal drugs.
• For girls, tobacco smoking along with alcohol is the precursor.

Smoking creates a serious risk. Monitoring the Future survey found in 1994:

• 8^th graders who smoked at all were 3 times more likely to try illicit drugs than non-smokers.
• Pack-a-day smokers were 9 times more likely.
• 10^th graders were 3 and 7.4 times.
• 12^th graders 2.4 and 5 times.

Smoking creates a serious habit. Smoking leads users from initial to regular use more quickly than do other means of administration.

• This is the case for tobacco, for marijuana, and for methamphetamine.

It’s a gateway for some, a trap door for others. In summary, the use of marijuana and other drugs is exceedingly rare among those who have not used alcohol or tobacco first.

Question

How do you justify the expansion of the ONDCP mandate to include alcohol and tobacco use? Isn’t this likely to erode ONDCP’s focus on dangerous, illegal drugs?

Answer

Aggressive efforts to prevent underage use of tobacco and alcohol are essential to the prevention of illicit drug use. In fact, there is a practical convergence of drug prevention and crime prevention research that calls for aggressive prevention of gateway drugs and aggressive policing of minor offenses, as a means to foster social order and check progression to more dangerous behavior.

There is long-standing, bi-partisan support for this approach. Since 1992, the National Drug Control Strategy has included underage use of alcohol and tobacco as an appropriate focus of drug prevention and treatment efforts.

• The 1992 National Drug Control Strategy, issued by President Bush sharpened the focus of the nation’s strategy on the treatment and prevention of alcohol abuse, noted that drug prevention programs are more likely to succeed if they also address underage drinking, and stated that underage tobacco use is a gateway to other more harmful drugs.
• The Clinton Administration has carried forward efforts against underage tobacco and alcohol use, begun under President Bush. Specifically, the Food and Drug Administration has taken steps to stop the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to minors and prevent tobacco companies from targeting children with their advertisements, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has promulgated regulations to implement the Public Health Service Act requirement that each state enact and enforce laws banning the sale and distribution of tobacco products to people under 18.

• a focus on all forms of drug use, including underage alcohol and tobacco use; and
• the application of all appropriate public health measures, including: vigorous law enforcement to reduce trafficking; legal controls to reduce supply; education; anti-drug advertisements; early intervention; and treatment.

Alcohol and tobacco are gateway drugs. While dangerous, illegal drugs in their own right, alcohol and tobacco offer a gateway to and training ground for progression to other, even more dangerous, drugs of abuse. Therefore, preventing or delaying tobacco and alcohol use prevents or delays the use of other drugs as well.
See
What If Marijuana Disappeared? By Richard Cowan

• There is a strong statistical association between adolescents’ use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. Some researchers have documented a progression of drug use, which starts with alcohol and tobacco. For boys, alcohol use is the precursor to marijuana use and marijuana use is followed by the use of other illegal drugs. For girls, tobacco smoking along with alcohol use is the precursor to marijuana use.
• The annual Monitoring the Future survey of 8^th, 10^th, and 12^th graders also establishes a strong association. In 1994, 8^th graders who smoked at all were 3 times more likely to try illicit drugs than non-smokers. Pack-a-day smokers were 9 times more likely. For 10^th graders the numbers were 3 times and 7.4 times. For 12^th graders 2.4 times and 5 times.
• Smoking leads users from initial to regular use more quickly than do other means of administration. This is the case for tobacco, for marijuana, and for methamphetamine. Tobacco smoking appears to be a training ground for the smoking of other drugs.
• According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, teens get hooked on tobacco by the time they are 12 to 14 years old. In 1985, 97 percent of 12^th graders who smoked a pack a day had begun smoking by the 4^th grade.

In summary, while use of alcohol and/or tobacco does not guarantee use of marijuana and other drugs, the use of marijuana and other drugs is exceedingly rare among those who have not used alcohol or tobacco first.