Ironically, cannabis assists neuroplasticity, so if Biden just took a few bong hits every once in a while, his brain would become more receptive to taking a few bong hits every once in a while (and hopefully more receptive to Medicare-for-all).
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Honest answer to your thoughtful question. The problem for me is that the use of the term implies a scientific or proven causation which has never been made. It’s a lay term for what should be a scientific concept. The history of the term is that it was employed to justify the heavy criminalization of the substance, by pretending that the purpose of restrictions was to prevent further harm. In reality, nothing could have been further from the truth.
The actual harm from criminalization is the lives ruined by incarceration, and the families destroyed by the loss of one of their members. As well as the millions of dollars in fines and fees and lost wages. Not to mention the loss of voting rights for felons. And not to mention the taking away of judicial discretion by the requirement of minimum mandatory sentences. Not to mention the discriminatory effect of racially tinged prosecutions. All these effects flowed from the scare tactics of which “gateway drug” was a major justification.
I see no benefit from employing a confusing (at best) term, and a consciously misleading term (at worst). Gateway may be mildly applicable to your Harley example, because there is no harm as a result. People are confused enough about the differences between correlation and causation as it is. The post hoc fallacy is one of the most common ones we see every day. We should not add to that.
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Have you seen the price of Harley stuff? Some drug habits cost less!
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There is no such thing as a “gateway” drug. That is not a scientific or a medical term. It’s a pseudo-legal term made up by people who already had their minds made up that any drug which does not profit Big Pharma or the alcohol companies is something that must be combatted. It’s nonsense that old idiots and bigots push to have an excuse for pursuing their hateful, destructive, Constitution-circumventing anti-drug agenda. What was the “gateway drug” for all the hopeless alcoholics in this country? Cough syrup? Why aren’t we throwing people in jail for decades for using that?
Biden should drop out. He never should have entered the race. Every time he opens his mouth he proves he’s the perfect candidate for the 1940s. He is 76 years old. Anyone who wants to vote for him wouldn’t be electing him, they’d be electing his successor for when he drops dead.
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I don’t know what the ‘correct’ amount is. I do know today’s weed (over here, western europe) contains about 3 - 4 times more thc than when we used to grow our own in the 80s. And it’s not as if people use only 1/4th as much of it. One of the (IMHO) big problems of illegality is that it could evolve from beer to wine (strengthwise) while not being treated different. Had it been legal all this tiime the THC amounts would be properly labeled and people could use it in an informed way.
Anyhoo, I’ve seen my share of bad effects of weed on various people, and I think lots of people underestimate the risks. All drugs carry risks of course. The risks of alcohol are probably bigger than the risks of cannabis, but they’re much better known to the general populace.
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You could consider beer a ‘gateway’ drug, as it introduces lots of people into the concept of drugs. But you are completely right that the scaremongering use of the term is utterly nonsensical. It’s not as if cannabis automatically leads to heavier stuff.
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“Gateway” inherently implies causality. You have to pass through the gate in order to continue on the path. That ignores the very large number of people who skip straight to heroin or cocaine, or ignores the giant freakin’ Disneyland-style gateway of prescription opioids.
ETA:
If it’s a weak correlation, then call it that. At least it’s honest.
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Neither neuroplasticity nor its contrary is unitary–new-language learning falls off pretty severly in adulthood. But acquisition of other skills (let alone ideas) does not follow the same curve. I continue to learn new musical material–that is, not just new tunes but new styles–in this my eighth decade. And my ability to integrate new data into my understanding of the world doesn’t seem diminished since grad school forty-plus years ago. Which doesn’t mean that my tastes are infinitely elastic (I still don’t like fusion or Jackson Pollock or sushi)–I become more myself every day. If Joe Biden has dumb ideas, don’t blame his age–blame his basic attitudes (or his basic political calculations). None of which necessarily eliminates some form of age-related mental decay–but that’s a disease process, not an inevitable result of staying alive for a long time.
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I feel like a study needs to be done into whether having to deal with horrible politicians and the results of their horrible politics and policies leads people to take harder drugs.
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When? That would be the Fall of 1974. That’s when High Times got its first all color glossy cover.
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Don’t forget opioids, Adderall, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, etc that are found in bathroom cabinets across America. Those are the real gateway drugs. Kids get involved with those before they get seriously into pot and alcohol.
On the subject of marijuana and medicine cabinets, I would much rather have my MMJ back than the strong anticonvulsants I have to take now. (Thank you, nebulous federal laws on MMJ legality.)
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Reminder of where the modern drug war came from:
Biden’s drug policies are not disconnected from the rest of his imperialist & white supremacist history.
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