We love reading your responses to our blogs. In our last one, we shared the story of Kelsey Parker’s recovery journey using legal medical marijuana, and how this option gave her a way to cut off the connection with the street dealer who also sold her meth.
In response, one reader said: “My old boss constantly said the only reason pot is a gateway drug is you have to see the same dealer that sells the others.” Keep those replies coming, we love hearing what you think!
We’ve got answers to some of our most commonly asked questions about marijuana below. But first, we just dropped some new merch, and we think you’ll love it. Every purchase supports the work we do, and we’d love for you to check it out.
Is marijuana a gateway drug?
I love addiction researcher and journalist Maia Szalavitz’s comparison to riding a bike. She makes the point that just because people who join motorcycle gangs ride bicycles first, that doesn’t mean that bike riding is a gateway to joining a motorcycle gang.
Similarly, it’s true that the vast majority of people who use riskier drugs used marijuana first, but that doesn’t mean marijuana made them try other drugs! It’s just highly unlikely that people will skip a low-risk option and go straight to something higher risk.
About 50% of American adults have used marijuana in their lifetime. Only 2% have used heroin. Correlation is not causation. Marijuana does not cause people to use other drugs.
Has marijuana legalization led to more youth using marijuana?
No. There have been many studies on this, with a 2024 study published in JAMA Psychiatry again finding that legalizing marijuana for adult use does not increase youth use.
Have more adults started using marijuana in states where it's legal?
Yes. As marijuana has been legalized for adult use, more adults are using it. That doesn’t mean legalization has failed. Policies always have tradeoffs. When we look at success, we can’t just look at rates of use. That’s one important data point, but there are many others, such as rates of arrest for marijuana offenses, crime related to the underground market, quality control of the product people are using, etc.
There are no perfect policies, and best practices in marijuana laws continue to evolve, particularly around potency.
Where do we go from here?
We continue to be convinced that allowing adults a broader range of legal options is far less harmful to the individual, their family, and the broader society than the crime, contamination, and incarceration that are part of criminalizing a popular substance like marijuana.
In the words of a sheriff who attended an End It For Good event years ago, “Marijuana is not a gateway drug, but the prosecution of it is a gateway to a destroyed life.”
There’s tension here, just like there is with any activity that can be destructive. As a society, we’ve made peace with the tensions of other higher-risk activities like driving cars, drinking alcohol, and swimming. We let people choose those risky activities while focusing on honest education and reducing risk.
There are no perfect solutions where no one gets hurt. But there are good options where fewer people do, and that’s the mindset we believe can dramatically reduce unnecessary harm related to drugs and addiction.