Is Pot a Gateway Drug?

[sueño]

My curiosity level is off the charts right now. Under what circumstances did you end up trying pot at 8? I didn't really even know what it was until I was 13. Didn't try it until 16.

and who gave it to you?

[El Barto]

Moreover, start smoking at 8 as a coping mechanism? I can see an 8 year old getting coerced into smoking; probably happened in my neighborhood. I don't seeing an 8 year old recognize the cause and effect relationship that treating pot as a coping mechanism would imply.

As for the rest of the post, it was crystal clear, and like I said, I see where you're coming from. I just don't think that what you're describing fits the actual "according to DARE" definition of a gateway drug (although it wouldn't surprise me if some DEA Asshole weren't hauling ass down to the copyright office to trademark your definition  ).

[CrimsonSunrise]

I should have provided a few more details.  First time I smoked was 8, my brother and his friends were 12 and had fun getting me high on occasion, like I later did to my cat  .  I did it a occasionaly between 8-10, but by the time I was 10-11 I was smoking a few times a week.  By 12, pretty much every day.  I won't get into the main reason why I needed something to use as a tool to cope at that young of an age, but suffice to say it was a pretty serious physical issue.  One that caused a lot of distress in my daily life.  Add to that, I was very small as a kid and definitely was bullied pretty badly by my brother and kids I grew up with.  Not that my story is any sadder than other kids, I just didn't handle it well.

[Chino]

How, at the age of twelve, were you able to finance a daily smoking habit?

[CrimsonSunrise]

Paper route...mowing lawns... washing cars ....friends...stealing, this was like '72-'76    We actually made money as kids, and dime bags were widely available. 

**EDIT  forgot my favorite.  We had a private golf course at the end of our street, we'd dive in the ponds when it was closed, gather balls, and sell them during the day to golfers.  Occasionally we were chased by the gardener...Gil, and his salt pellet gun 

[TioJorge]

  That's pretty interesting.

[King Postwhore]

Paper route...mowing lawns... washing cars ....friends...stealing, this was like '72-'76    We actually made money as kids, and dime bags were widely available. 

**EDIT  forgot my favorite.  We had a private golf course at the end of our street, we'd dive in the ponds when it was closed, gather balls, and sell them during the day to golfers.  Occasionally we were chased by the gardener...Gil, and his salt pellet gun 

This has Caddyshack written all over it!   Let's hear it for the 70's!

[CrimsonSunrise]

Yeah...I never got hit, but other kids in the hood did....

[lonestar]

Holy shit, I used to golf ball dive too.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Holy shit, I used to golf ball dive too.

That's because your Ol...I mean, a seasoned vet like me!! 

[El Barto]

That sounds more like what I figured. And yeah, back then a quarter oz weighed 10g and cost you $20 (Take that Neil DeGrasse Tyson!). We never had any problem scrounging up the money, hell, that's what grandparents were for back then. Our problem was not smoking the whole thing in one night. In retrospect, mowing lawns for pot money probably put us a couple of clicks above the other neighborhood kids in terms of responsible behavior. 

It also just goes to demonstrate that prohibition actually makes drugs much easier for youngsters to obtain than alcohol. Probably a leading consideration in the so-called gateway nonsense. Like I've said before, ask any 7th grader to score you a rock and it won't take him any time at all. Ask him for a bottle of whiskey and a pack of Camels and he won't know what the hell to do.

[lonestar]

Brings to mind the high school kids who ask me to buy them beer outside the store these days. I give them a "fuck off" look and walk by. Shit man, if I can't drink, I sure as fuck ain't buying it for some snot face with zero imagination in scoring his high.

[El Barto]

Brings to mind the high school kids who ask me to buy them beer outside the store these days. I give them a "fuck off" look and walk by. Shit man, if I can't drink, I sure as fuck ain't buying it for some snot face with zero imagination in scoring his high.

Given my remembrances of youth and fond nostalgia I'd feel inclined to help them out. But then based on my understanding of today's youth after reading from the youngsters on this here forum the last five years, I'd just assume that they were waiting to signal a bunch of cops hiding across the street and blow them off.

[TempusVox]

   We actually made money as kids, and dime bags were widely available. 

Yes indeed. I remember when you could easily get ten joints out of a dime bag. If you were selling it, you could get skimpy and roll 15. 

My sophomore and junior years of high school, our favorite thing was to get a dime bag, then trade it to some classmates older brother (who could buy liquor) for either a fifth of Canadian Club, Seagrams 7, or Makers Mark. Seems like those three were always on sale at the state liquor store. We'd of course roll them small, so he still got ten joints, we'd cut it to 15, so we still had five of our own, and we'd get a 5th of whiskey too. Then it was, "Okay, who has the party set for this weekend?" 

[Konrad]

No. Your brain is the gateway, not the drug. Your personality type dictates which drugs you have the desire to try/do.

Period.
I don't think it is an gateway drug.



Water is a gateway to the most destructive drugs out there,
because 100% of users used it before.