Gateway Theory Research Paper

Gateway theory is the hypothesis that exposure to entry level drugs such as tobacco, alcohol and marijuana reliably predicts a deeper and more severe drug involvement for the user in the future (O’Brien Lecture). For the sake of this discussion, I will refer to marijuana as the gateway drug. Gateway theory is comprised of three propositions: Sequencing, Association, and Causation. Sequencing refers to the idea that there is a relationship between two drugs, where the use of one is regularly initiated before the use of the other. For example, most cocaine users used marijuana before moving on to the harder drug cocaine. Marijuana and cocaine, respectively, were used in sequence. The association proposition suggests that use of one drug increases
fall somewhere in between two extremes (Sullum 8-9). These extremes can be defined as experimenters and dysfunctional users. The lesser of the extremes, experimenters, are users who try one or more drugs, but the drugs do not play a significant role in their lives. They also don’t actively seek out the drugs and may only use drugs when they are offered. Dysfunctional users are at the other end of the spectrum. In a dysfunctional user, drugs are the most significant part of their life. They have lost control of their drug use to the extent that they are personally and socially dysfunctional (O’Brien Lecture). Sullum believes that our society wrongfully groups all drug users into the dysfunctional category because they are the ones we hear about on the news and see on the streets. However, the numbers don’t lie. There are a far greater number of people who have admitted to using drugs than we see on the news or who are locked up in jail. Therefore, Sullum suggests that the majority of drug users in the U.S. are either social-recreational users or involved users. Social-recreational users use drugs more frequently and for a longer period of time than experimenters, but they are still functional and the drug does not play a significant role in their life. Usually social-recreational users use drugs because they have a happy or social effect on them. Involved users are one step above social-recreational users and one
First, as I mentioned before, dysfunctional users are the ones we see on the news and on the streets. They are the ones going to jail and being checked into treatment. The news neglects to show successful, functional drugs users, as it wouldn’t be newsworthy. Another reason we hear more about dysfunctional users is because much of the researcher that is done on drugs is conducted by our government; the very ones waging the war on drugs. “Scientists who are interested in looking at drug use as something other than a problem are not likely to get funding from the government...” (Sullum 15) Clearly successful and functional drug users (social-recreational and involved users) would not want the stigma of being grouped along with dysfunctional users, and therefore are not heard about or