Life /
Weed (Cannabis) prices in Poland. (Difficulty to obtain) [31]
@johnny reb
In my opinion and from my experiences it's a myth that's been pushed to keep people away from any drug. I've smoked cannabis for almost nine years and have never touched an "addictive" drug (e.g cocaine, heroin), just psychedelics.
I understand why people call it a gateway drug and it's usually because cannabis is the first drug available to young people as its so common. Therefore it brings people into a connection with 'shady' people and makes it easier for those who want to try harder drugs to actually try these harder drugs.
I think it's a certain kind of person that progresses in a gateway fashion. I can only speak from personal experiences but I've seen many more lives torn apart through alcoholism than torn apart through addiction to marijuana.
There is a lot of evidence in legal cannabis states that show that legal cannabis has lead to a reduction in opiate use and overdose deaths from prescription painkillers. My theory is that if a drug is illegal then people will group them together, especially if like Poland the punishments are similar. Caught with weed, prison. Caught with heroin, prison. If the risk is the same then surely addicts will likely use the genuinely physically addictive drug. I've never tried heroin but I'm guessing it must feel pretty ******* good if people tear their own lives apart for it. So if the risk is the same as a few grams of weed then why not take the risk and try the stronger stuff. If weed is legal I feel less people will meet these 'shady' types and less people will advance onto stronger substances.
Sorry for the essay but it genuinely annoys me when people don't differentiate between substances and the affects these substances have.
"The total annual cost to society of alcohol-related harm is estimated to be £21bn. The NHS incurs £3.5bn a year in costs related to alcohol. Few other health harms have such high overall costs when the impact on productivity and crime are included."
I personally have been assaulted multiple times by people under the influence of alcohol on nights out in the UK, I am sure this occurs in Poland. I have also been mugged by someone addicted to heroin. One time this guy who was high off weed shared his life story and his bag of cookies with me.
Weed and heroin are linked in the sense that they are both illegal, the comparisons stop there.
Edit: also johnnyreb I said "usually unrelated", not completely unrelated.