Gateway

As I've been doing a lot of research into medical marijuana(honestly, just marijuana in general), I've found one thing to be true about the battle for and against legalization, and just recently found an article where a doctor sites this problem:

When battling for legalization, researchers and doctors attest to the drug causing little to no harm.

When battling against legalization, researchers and doctors say the drug is dangerous and deadly and the root of all evil.

Something that used to come up every single time in junior high or high school, was that marijuana is a gateway drug. If you use marijuana, you're more likely to use other drugs liek cocaine and heroin and LSD. While part of me feels this is true because I've seen it happen and because it was told to me in school, I really think that fact is the least researched aspect of the entire debate.

A few years ago there was a study about marijuana being a gateway drug. The study, conducted by the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse, claims that marijuana users are 85 times more likely to try cocaine than non-marijuana users. But the figure was found by dividing the proportion of marijuana users, in their study, who have used cocaine(17%) by the proportion of cocaine users who have never used marijuana(.2%). (Morgan, Zimmer 1995)

In my personal experience I've seen a significant split down the middle- the people I know that have used marijuana that have tried other (federally)illicit drugs and the people that have used marijuana and never moved on. Besides the point that marijuana is significantly more available, especially now, than other drugs. I'm sure that the process of someone starting to use marijuana, being introduced to illicit substances and then proceeding to purchasing illicit substances is happening all the time. But there are more casual users of marijuana than fierce, loyal, desperate users.

What I'm trying to say is- the amount of marijuana users is so high(no pun intended), it has to drive up other statistics as well. So I guess in a way I subscribe to the "gateway effect," but not from an abuse perspective- abusing one drug will lead to the abuse of others. It's inevitable, with mind-altering substances that you'll try another; mushrooms to acid to peyote, cocaine to methamphetamines to barbituates; etc etc etc to etc.

Anti-drug campaigns have recently begun targetting marijuana more-so than all other drugs. Or if it's referencing drug use as a broad term, they just use marijuana because of it's "gateway effects." It's still prudent because marijuana is, as i've just said, more readily available.

Which brings me to my final point, one I seem to come back to over and over again. Would the legalization of marijuana, the insemination of it into society, with governmental control and taxation, create a frenzy of use and abuse? would crime go up? would high school dropouts go up? Or would there be a boom leading to a level, stable trend of use?