cannabisnews.com: Study Cites Drug-Use Trends by Age





Study Cites Drug-Use Trends by Age
Posted by FoM on January 31, 2001 at 19:17:23 PT
By Davis Ho, Associated Press Writer
Source: Star-Tribune
People born after the 1960s are less likely than baby boomers to go from using marijuana to heroin and other hard drugs, according to a private study that challenges the so-called gateway theory of drug abuse. The White House' s drug policy office expressed doubts about the study and suggested it could undermine attempts to prevent drug use among young people. 
The study published in February' s edition of the American Journal of Public Health concludes that a rise in marijuana use among young people during the 1990s is unlikely to result in an epidemic of hard drug use in the near future. " The drug subculture among inner city youth today encourages marijuana use but discourages use of hard drugs, " Andrew Golub, the study' s main author, said Wednesday. " Many of these kids witnessed the devastating effects of crack and heroin on their own families and neighborhoods." The gateway theory doesn' t contend there is a direct connection between different degrees of drug abuse, but says that those who use tobacco and alcohol are statistically more likely to go on to use marijuana and in turn are more likely to use cocaine, crack or heroin. Golub said his research shows the theory " is not relevant to the kids who came before the baby boomers and those born during the 1960s, and it is increasingly less relevant to those who came after." Bob Weiner, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said he hadn' t read the study but expressed doubts about Golub' s conclusions, citing recent research that found young people who regularly use marijuana are 80 times more likely to use cocaine. " The parents of the children who have gone onto cocaine would have more common sense than his findings seem to come out with, " Weiner said. For the new study, researchers analyzed data about adolescent drug use reported by more than 100, 000 people who participated in the government' s annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse between 1979 and 1997. Golub said that before 1944, alcohol and tobacco use was common among youths, but progressing to other drugs was virtually unheard of. That trend peaked for those born in the 1960s, when the likelihood of progressing to marijuana use by age 17 reached as high as 47 percent and moving to harder drugs reached 20 percent. For people born at the end of 1970s, the risk of marijuana use declined to 36 percent and the rate of progression to harder drugs fell to 6 percent. Susan Foster, a director with the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, said the research was important and the results may reflect the overall national decline in drug use, although they may not yet account for the increase of the early 1990s. " I would certainly caution against drawing conclusions that would lead us to abandon any efforts to stem alcohol, tobacco or illicit drug use, " she said. " We do know that if you can keep youth from using before they' re 21, it vastly reduces the risk that they' re going to run into problems later." On the Net: Substance Abuse Policy Research Program: http://www.saprp.org National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse: http://www.casacolumbia.org Office of National Drug Control Policy: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/index.html Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN) Author: Davis Ho, Associated Press WriterPublished: January 31, 2001Copyright: 2001 Star Tribune Address: 425 Portland Ave., Minneapolis MN 55488 Fax: 612-673-4359 Contact: opinion startribune.com Website: http://www.startribune.com/ Forum: http://talk.startribune.com/cgi-bin/WebX.cgi Feedback: http://www.startribune.com/stonline/html/userguide/letform.htmlAmerican Journal of Public Healthhttp://www.apha.org/journal/AJPH2.htmCannabisNews - CannabisNews Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabisnews.com.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on February 04, 2001 at 21:01:30 PT:
Related Article
Marijuana Theory ChallengedSource: Washington Post (DC) Published: Monday, February 5, 2001 ; Page A09 Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com/Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm A new study is challenging the idea that marijuana is a "gateway" to harder drug use. That appears to have been true only for the baby boom generation.Young people who smoked marijuana in the generations before and after the baby boomers don't appear necessarily likely to go on to use harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin, the research found."The recent increase in youthful marijuana use has been offset by lower rates of progression to hard drug use among youths born in the 1970s," Andrew Golub and Bruce D. Johnson of the National Development and Research Institutes in New York wrote in this month's issue of the American Journal of Public Health.Golub and Johnson analyzed data collected as part of the federal National Household Drug Survey from 1979 to 1997 to see if young people who used marijuana were at risk for moving on to harder drugs, as had been widely feared."Progression to marijuana and hard drug use was uncommon among persons born before World War II," the researchers found. That occurred only among baby boomers, peaking around 1960."These findings suggest that the gateway phenomenon reflects norms prevailing among youths at a specific place and time and that the linkages between stages are far from causal," they wrote.
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Comment #5 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on February 01, 2001 at 05:59:38 PT
Gateway Country
>>those who use tobacco and alcohol are statistically more likely to go on to use marijuana and in turn are more likely to use cocaine, crack or heroin.  I seriously doubt the official ONDCP Gateway Theory includes alcohol and tobacco, even though they're just as likely suspects for this phony theory as herb. The only gateway is the grouping of cannabis with harder illegal drugs - if cannabis were legal, it would cease to have any gateway effect at all. Separate the markets, people.  "Mother's milk leads to EVERYTHING" -- George Carlin
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Comment #4 posted by sm247 on February 01, 2001 at 04:27:02 PT
Back at ya..
Most people who progressed to other drugs was because of unavailability of marijuana and/or urinalysis harder drugs are out of body in 72 hours mj 30 days  people were trying to beat the system.Just because someone didn't use it before their 21 doesn't mean they will never use it. I have known people to believe all the lies about marijuana till their 30's then they tried it and liked it.What a cure for md-life crisis.I feel mj has psycological uses too people don't commit suicide high.If they do say anything about suicide ti usually is for attention.
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Comment #3 posted by Dan B on January 31, 2001 at 21:37:03 PT:
Bob Weiner . . .
. . . or as I like to call him, "Truncated Penis," says that "he hadn' t read the study but expressed doubts about Golub' s conclusions, citing recent research that found young people who regularly use marijuana are 80 times more likely to use cocaine."Of course, The Truncated One never mentions where he found his study, more than likely because either there is no such study, or he knows that it is so flawed that nobody in her or his right mind would ever believe his conclusions. In fact, there is absolutely no evidence that marijuana leads to the use of other drugs. But now we have concrete evidence that it doesn't.The antis are running scared. They know that their days are numbered, and they're fighting to defende every lie they ever told. And one by one, the lies are being disproved--consistently, and without fail.Keep up the fight; we'll win this war.Dan B
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 31, 2001 at 20:04:33 PT:
Press Release
People Born in '70s Less Likely To Progress To Hard Drugs A new study concludes that "Dire predictions of future hard drug abuse by youths who came of age in the 1990s may be greatly overstated." The study finds that the recent increase in marijuana use, a so-called gateway drug purportedly leading to harder drugs (such as cocaine, crack or heroin) by young people has been offset by lower rates of progression to hard drug use among youths born in the 1970s. Analyzing the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (1979-1997), the study shows that progression from using alcohol or tobacco to marijuana and hard drugs was uncommon among persons born before World War II. The stages of drug use phenomenon emerged with baby boomers and peaked among persons born around 1960. Subsequently progression risks at each drug-use stage declined. [From: "Variation in Youthful Risks of Progression From Alcohol and Tobacco to Marijuana and to Hard Drugs Across Generations." Contact: Andrew Golub, PhD, National Development and Research Institutes.]The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly Journal of the American Public Health Association, the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world and the foremost publisher of public health-related books and periodicals promoting high scientific standards, action programs and policy for good health. Select journal abstracts, editorials and tables of contents since July 1997 are available online at: http://www.apha.org/
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Comment #1 posted by Robbie on January 31, 2001 at 19:36:11 PT
It would figure
ONDCP: There was a study that disputed our staunchly held propaganda?!?!HERESY! HERESY! Off with his head! Don't threaten our gravy train!
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