NY Times debates “Is Marijuana a Gateway Drug?”

The Room for Debate section of the New York Times yesterday had an interesting quartet of pieces discussing marijuana reform focused on the “gateway drug” notion. Here is the section’s introductory set up:

The drive to marijuana legalization has grown more powerful as the crisis of heroin and opioid addiction has become more troubling. Now some officials say efforts to legalize marijuana should stop because, they say, greater availability would increase use and marijuana can be a gateway to the use of other drugs.

But is marijuana a gateway drug and, for that reason, should it remain illegal?

Here are the contribututions, with links via the commentary titles and the brief summaries provided by the Times:

• Robert L. DuPont, “Marijuana Has Proven to Be a Gateway Drug“: Establishing it as a third legal drug, along with tobacco and alcohol, will increase drug abuse, including the expanding opioid epidemic.

• Colleen L. Barry, “Overdoses Fell with Medical Marijuana Legalization“: Medical marijuana might be safer for chronic pain management than opioids but more research is needed.

• Ethan Nadelmann, “Fears of a Gateway Effect Vastly Exceed the Evidence“: The vast majority of people who use marijuana never progress to using other illicit drugs, or even to becoming regular marijuana consumers.

• Deborah Peterson Small, “Look at the Real Gateways to Addiction“: Many promote myths about marijuana to justify the use of law enforcement and the testing of people for public benefits, jobs and exclusion from housing.