2 of 8

Write now Article Tools

Page 3 of 9

concluded that personal use of marijuana should no longer be a crime. Nixon buried the reports . . ." (Gray 97). This is another case of a government report not jibing with the administrations stand on drugs and getting buried.
In the 1980's, during the Reagan White House, marijuana again came into the spotlight on June 24, 1982, when Reagan stood in the Rose Garden and declared his War on Drugs. Only one drug, though got mentioned specifically "The country must mobilize to let kids know the truth, to erase the false glamour that surrounds drugs, and to brand drugs such as marijuana exactly for what they are dangerous, and particularly to school-age youth" (Baum 166). Marijuana was singled out because it was the drug that affected the greatest number of people. If marijuana were to be made legal, there would be only about 2 million illegal drug users left in this country. Certainly not enough people to warrant the big budgets the War on Drugs generates.

One way to make sure that your story makes the front page is to come up with test results that prove that marijuana use will lead to harder drugs the "gateway" theory. "In 1994, the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University made the shocking announcement that marijuana smokers were eighty-five times more likely to go onto cocaine than nonsmokers" (Gray 177). They arrived at this conclusion by taking the estimated number of cocaine users that had smoked reefer first, and dividing it by the estimated number who hadn't (almost nobody). Using the same semi-scientific procedure you can prove that almost any substance is a precursor to drug use.
The gateway theory started with a University of Kentucky study "proving" that marijuana is a cause of heroin use that was published in the Science News and later picked up by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. When asked about the study "the Kentucky researcher quoted in the Science News conceded it is the act of criminalizing pot smokers, rather than the pharmacological properties of the drug itself, that is the real gateway to harder drugs" (Baum 153). It is flawed research such as this that has permeated the government's position since the beginning of the assault on this plant.
The gateway theory has been proven wrong in several scientific journals and papers and yet, because of skilled management of the media, the theory persists, at least in the minds of the public. In 2006 an extensive report was compiled about whether

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• ...
• 9
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The debate over legalizing marijuana?
We want to hear your view. Write now!