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The term gateway drug is used to describe a relatively benign drug that can lead to the use of "harder", more dangerous drugs. The term is also used, usually somewhat facetiously, to describe introductory experiences to sometimes "addictive" experiences or devices.
Drug-related usage
The term is often used by governments, pressure groups and the media to describe the scientifically controversed concept that illegal drug use is a continuum. According to this concept, using one "soft" non- or only slightly addictive drug will lead to the use of other "harder" drugs and the associated criminal and social consequences – the first drug used is thus described as a gateway to further abuse.
There is no scientific evidence to support the idea that use of one drug will lead to use of other drugs – that physiological and neurological changes make it unavoidable. Individual social histories show that "hard" drug users do progress from one drug to another, but the drives behind this are not clear enough to generalise a gateway.* Furthermore, some "hard" drugs, such as alcohol, may be legal, while other "soft" drugs, such as marijuana, may be illegal.
In 1998, a French scientific report, led by Dr. Pierre-Bernard Roques from the INSERM-CNRS, classed different types of drugs according to their lethality and addictiveness. Heroin, cocaine and alcohol were classed in the most addictive and lethal category; benzodiazepine, hallucinogens and tobacco in the medium category; and marijuana in the last category. Health secretary Bernard Kouchner, founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, declared that: "Scientifical facts show that, for cannabis, no neurotoxicity is demonstrated, to the contrary of alcohol and cocaine." *" target="_blank" >[http://www.esculape.com/politique/alcooldrogue.html
While physiological and neurological evidence may be lacking, some argue that there are sociological factors that lead to a gateway phenomenon, since people who have bought illegal soft drugs have made connections to dealers who may also sell illegal hard drugs. While dealers and buyers may find less legal reasons to stay away from hard drugs when hard drugs are legally treated not much differently from what they are already involved with, they may still decide to stay away from hard drugs nevertheless because of their concerns for their own health.
The continuum concept is used to argue that all illegal drugs should be treated in the same manner under the law, rather than there being different penalties based on some division by each drug's dangers. With the gateway concept, all illegal drugs are equally iniquitous, to convict a user at an "early stage" of their progression is more beneficial than waiting until they have progressed to other drugs. It is also used to discourage the use of illegal but low addiction potential drugs like cannabis, which could theoretically lead to more dangerous drugs like cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine.
Because much of the legality of a drug is circumstantial, the continuum concept is debatable as it does not extend into the realm of legal drugs. For instance, tobacco (which is known to have a higher abuse potential than many hard drugs) and alcohol are arguably gateway drugs, although they are not traditionally regarded as such. Also, ritalin, adderall, and caffeine could be called gateway drugs since they build tolerance for stimulants, usually at a young age (as most people are exposed to caffeine or prescribed ritalin or adderall at a young age).
See also
External links
"Gateway drug"