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Why isn't alcohol considered a "gateway drug"?

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  • 01-01-2015 8:13pm
    #1
    BetterThanThou
    Registered Users Posts: 944 ✭✭✭


    My doctor's uncle was out in a bar having a piss up last night, he got friendly with a middle-aged man and was talking to him for a while, after a while passed, he went out into the smoking area with this man and took out a joint and lit it, he politely offered it to the man, and then, while this man is pissed drunk and barely even able to stand up, he starts telling him how cannabis is a "gateway drug" and it will lead to use of harder drugs like heroin. Personally, I don't understand this logic, as far as mind altering substances go, alcohol is a lot stronger than cannabis, for my doctor's uncle, he can smoke joint after joint and take bong rip after bong rip during a smoke-up and his level of intoxication would be nowhere near as much as after an average night out for him. I've never once heard alcohol referred to as a "gateway drug", yet it's the drug that everyone starts on, and of course is a lot more harmful than cannabis.


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    #2
    Amirani
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,522 Mod ✭✭✭✭Amirani


    The gateway drug effect is way overstated, and generally misused.


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    #3
    AboutaWeekAgo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 651 ✭✭✭AboutaWeekAgo


    Alcohol is a gateway to the furry gates.


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    #4
    madma
    Registered Users Posts: 1,773 ✭✭✭madma


    your Doctors Uncle? WTF?


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    #5
    Jimoslimos
    Registered Users Posts: 4,930 ✭✭✭Jimoslimos


    BetterThanThou wrote: »
    My doctor's uncle...
    A strange acquaintance, but carry on if you feel it lends your point more credibility.


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    #6
    JaseBelleVie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 936 ✭✭✭JaseBelleVie


    Alcohol = gateway to curry and sex

    Cannabis = gateway to pizza and chocolate (usually simultaneously)


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    #7
    RayM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,973 ✭✭✭RayM


    Alcohol's not a drug - it's a drink!


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    #8
    darkpagandeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24,465 ✭✭✭✭darkpagandeath


    Why is not driving over the speed limit a gateway to killing and eating your victims..


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    #9
    Talib Fiasco
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,428 ✭✭✭Talib Fiasco


    It certainly is a gateway for nicotine... I find it near impossible to not smoke while I'm p*ssed. Aww yeah social smoker bullsh*t and all that but smoking sober makes me gawk but a ciggy while hammered is absolutely beautiful. I'm in college and I know loads of lads and girls who are full time smokers only because they started smoking while out and couldn't fight the urge.


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    #10
    JJJJNR
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,791 ✭✭✭JJJJNR


    mmmkay..


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    #11
    Saipanne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,882 ✭✭✭Saipanne


    RayM wrote: »
    Alcohol's not a drug - it's a drink!

    Hear, hear!


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    #12
    UCDVet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭UCDVet


    Because it's popular.


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    #13
    qt3.14
    Registered Users Posts: 262 ✭✭qt3.14


    Because if it was good enough for the brave men of 1916 it's good enough for you you little cur!


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    #14
    the dark phantom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 772 ✭✭✭the dark phantom


    Diego Simeone wrote: »
    The gateway drug effect is way overstated, and generally misused.

    Its the saying that you come to expect from ignorant uneducated people.


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    #15
    JaseBelleVie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 936 ✭✭✭JaseBelleVie


    People give out to me also for drinking coffee a lot. "Caffeine is a drug!". Maybe so. But this is coming from people who are usually swigging down 3 or 4 cans of Coca Cola a day. Yeah. Nice one.


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    #16
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 6,025 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Calpol was my gateway drug. , I got some when I was about 6 months old, led me down a dark pathway.


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    #17
    RayM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,973 ✭✭✭RayM


    JaseHeath wrote: »
    People give out to me also for drinking coffee a lot. "Caffeine is a drug!". Maybe so. But this is coming from people who are usually swigging down 3 or 4 cans of Coca Cola a day. Yeah. Nice one.

    People give out to me for injecting coffee into my arms. Ok, it's not coffee, it's heroin, but still...


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    #18
    Rough Sleeper
    Registered Users Posts: 803 ✭✭✭Rough Sleeper


    There are few things more ridiculous than those Ag. Science types who consider it socially acceptable to get so drunk that they'll piss the bed and get in a bottle fight over a place in the Supermacs queue, but would consider taking a banger to be the equivalent consuming the products you keep under your sink.


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    #19
    Henlars67
    Registered Users Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭Henlars67


    What makes cannabis a gateway drug, if it even is a gateway drug, is that by buying it you come in contact with a dealer. It's then much more likely that you will start taking other stuff.

    If you could buy cannabis across the counter, then it's likely you'd never meet the dealer in the first place


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    #20
    shruikan2553
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,113 ✭✭✭shruikan2553


    Seeing as cannabis is illegal it is probably more of the mindset of the person. They are in contact with a dealer and buying illegal substances so the kind of people who would try drugs like heroin would also take stuff like cannabis. Plenty of people drink or smoke without taking any other drugs.
    JaseHeath wrote: »
    Alcohol = gateway to curry and sex

    Cannabis = gateway to pizza and chocolate (usually simultaneously)

    I wish to sign up to your newsletter and learn more.


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    #21
    CosmicSmash
    Registered Users Posts: 1,906 ✭✭✭CosmicSmash


    Jake1 wrote: »
    Calpol was my gateway drug. , I got some when I was about 6 months old, led me down a dark pathway.

    Wait till you try the Calpol Six Plus, 15ml and you're wasted.


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    #22
    Macavity.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,745 ✭✭✭Macavity.


    JaseHeath wrote: »
    People give out to me also for drinking coffee a lot. "Caffeine is a drug!". Maybe so. But this is coming from people who are usually swigging down 3 or 4 cans of Coca Cola a day. Yeah. Nice one.

    3 cans of Coke has less caffeine than the average cup of coffee.

    You can actually get a decent enough buzz from taking 200-400mg of caffeine at once, although it only really lasts an hour or two. It's a drug that people underestimate because of it's legality IMO.


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    #23
    donegaLroad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,379 ✭✭✭donegaLroad


    I know several people who registered as heroin addicts in order to get methadone, so they could try and go off the drink, even though they never tried heroin.


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    #24
    darkpagandeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24,465 ✭✭✭✭darkpagandeath


    Macavity. wrote: »
    3 cans of Coke has less caffeine than the average cup of coffee.

    You can actually get a decent enough buzz from taking 200-400mg of caffeine at once, although it only really lasts an hour or two. It's a drug that people underestimate because of it's legality IMO.

    Think it was about the sugar content.


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    #25
    Super-Rush
    Registered Users Posts: 19,473 ✭✭✭✭Super-Rush


    Well this is a novel way of talking about the most overdone subject in After Hours.

    The answer is that alcohol is legal, so it doesn't make a difference that it can **** people up more than does. People who abuse alcohol are considered to be legends, while even a casual smoker is labelled a junkie and a waster.


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    #26
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,966 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Jake1 wrote: »
    Calpol was my gateway drug. , I got some when I was about 6 months old, led me down a dark pathway.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292023/Paul-Gascoigne-drank-bottles-CALPOL-thinking-childrens-medicine-drunk.html
    Paul Gascoigne drank bottles of CALPOL thinking children's medicine would get him drunk

    The alcoholic 45-year-old admits he became hooked on the pink liquid
    It became so serious he was banned from every chemist in Newcastle
    'It was crazy. I had loads of bottles,' former England star admits


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    #27
    AgileMyth
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,761 ✭✭✭AgileMyth


    Why would you light a joint in a pub smoking area? Great way to get yourself barred.

    Go outside if you're consuming illegal products.


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    #28
    BetterThanThou
    Registered Users Posts: 944 ✭✭✭BetterThanThou


    AgileMyth wrote: »
    Why would you light a joint in a pub smoking area? Great way to get yourself barred.

    Go outside if you're consuming illegal products.
    I was in a bar where everyone does it anyway and the staff turn a blind eye to it, otherwise, I would not do it.


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    #29
    dar100
    Registered Users Posts: 1,735 ✭✭✭dar100


    donegaLroad wrote: »
    I know several people who registered as heroin addicts in order to get methadone, so they could try and go off the drink, even though they never tried heroin.

    Absolute lie


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    #30
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users Posts: 8,149 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    Probably because it's legal. Also, the amount of hypocritical people who don't even consider alcohol a drug is ridiculous


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    #31
    Shrap
    Registered Users Posts: 3,163 ✭✭✭Shrap


    Totally with the OP here. The amount of times I've shouted at the tv or radio after yet another muppet has proclaimed cannabis to be the gateway drug, and I'm roaring "It's ALCOHOL, FFS!".
    shruikan2553 wrote: »
    Seeing as cannabis is illegal it is probably more of the mindset of the person. They are in contact with a dealer and buying illegal substances so the kind of people who would try drugs like heroin would also take stuff like cannabis. Plenty of people drink or smoke without taking any other drugs..

    I agree somewhat with you here, except that nobody (and I know a lot of cannabis smokers - mostly ex ones now, but still....) and I mean nobody makes a conscious decision to try cannabis for the first time by going out to find a dealer. They are usually at a party and if they had any reservations about cannabis before they started drinking, those reservations dissolve in alcohol and they'll take a joint handed to them by someone who more than likely isn't a dealer themselves.

    It's when you start liking it that you go searching for a dealer! But the alcohol was invariably the gateway drug, IMO.

    Also though, it is true that because cannabis is illegal you definitely then come into contact with other stronger and more addictive/dangerous illegal drugs.


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