Busting the Gateway Myth about Marijuana

"Cannabis itself is not a cause of other drug use." --
CANNABIS : OUR POSITION FOR A CANADIAN PUBLIC POLICY
REPORT OF THE SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON ILLEGAL DRUGS
SUMMARY, SEPTEMBER 2002

There you have it, evidence that cannabis is not a cause of other drug use, that it is not a gateway drug, and that, given the evidence that cannabis is not more harmful than caffeine, it is a safe drug.

It was originally because of racism that marijuana was made illegal in Canada.

Thus the law is inherently racist but currentlyt targets a benign drug culture of whose members, very few of them have acted harmfully towards themselves and/or others.

At the very least, given evidence that alcohol and tobacco are many times more harmful, why are they not also included in any drug law nationally? Why are they treated separately? Because they are legal and any addiction to them is treated as a health problem.

Indeed, it is because both alcohol and tobacco have been regulated by the government. Consequently the media has "hidden" alcohol and tobacco from public scrutiny, and thus downplays their role in violence and/or death in Canada?

If so, then it may be possible that marijuana is demonized by media and by legal enforcement agencies for moral reasons unrelated to whatever potential harm this drug may cause. Essentially then, mass media has practiced propaganda against marijuana first by targeting an ethnic group and later by doing the following: associated early use in grade school with symptoms associated with idiopathic schizophrenia, used hyperbole to exaggerate the risk of lung disease caused by smoking marijuana, and used ad hominem attacks against regular marijuana users.

As well, the aggressive methods used by police to regulate marijuana use is a significent contributor to the rise in other drug use including methamphetamine, cocaine, and other stimulants.

If anything then the real gateway is the drug law, since it is because the law makes drugs illegal that criminals manufacture drugs for profit.

For legalization of all drugs would reduce the harm caused by such drugs.