Since President Nixon declared the War on Drugs (and maybe even sooner than that), marijuana has been coined a gateway drug. As a part of anti-drug propaganda, the media had many people believe that marijuana use led to the use of harder drugs.
Until now, there is no real scientific evidence to support this statement. In fact, we are coming to learn that social situations such as poverty are bigger gateways towards harder drug use than marijuana ever could be.
So now let’s talk about what marijuana has been the gateway for. Maybe we don’t spend enough time talking about the great things that marijuana has lead to in this world. We should start at the beginning.
Marijuana was the gateway to our first paper product, our first real fibrous materials for making baskets and clothes, and arguably one of our first medicines.
Since then, marijuana has been the gateway to one of the world’s biggest revolutions. Yes. I’m talking about the 60’s. From that revolution we experienced some of the greatest music that the world has ever known. The Beatles are just one. The music that has been inspired by marijuana has been loved by everyone. Ever met anybody who didn’t like Bob Marley?
Building shit – check! Music – check! Now let’s talk about evolutions in science that have come as a result of our love for marijuana. We didn’t even know the human body had an endocannabinoid system until we started studying cannabinoids. This revolutionized how we see the human body’s ability to heal itself from a multitude of different illnesses. This led to revolutionary studies in how the cannabinoids in our own bodies interact with each other to heal various aspects.
Marijuana has been the gateway to some of the most revolutionary research in the medical field. It has been the gateway to healing that some never thought would be possible. Before we go labelling marijuana a gateway to anything, we should consider all the sides.
