Romney incorrectly insists marijuana is a ‘gateway drug’

[kpete]

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday lashed out at a reporter in Colorado who asked him tough questions about same sex marriage, immigration and marijuana.

“Aren’t there issues of significance that you’d like to talk about?” Romney quipped to CBS 4 reporter Shaun Boyd. “The economy — the economy — the economy, the growth of jobs, the need to put people back to work. The challenges of Iran. We’ve got enormous issues that we face. But, go ahead. You want to talk about medical marijuana.”

“I think marijuana should not be legal in this country,” the former Massachusetts governor opined. “I believe it’s a gateway drug to other drug violations. The use of illegal drugs in this country is leading to terrible consequences in places like Mexico and actually in our own country. I oppose legalization of marijuana. I oppose legalization of other kinds of drugs.”


Research has repeatedly shown that the so-called “gateway effect” of marijuana is negligible.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/uonh-rom083110.php

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MORE:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/34F4DH/www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/10/romney-incorrectly-insists-marijuana-is-a-gateway-drug/

[Johonny]

1. one minute your smoking marijuana

the next your trading derivatives in a foreign market.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

2. The gateway drug

if there is such a thing, is alcohol. It's usually the first one most of us try..........

[Lindsay]

3. The correct response to that

back in the sixties was:

Mother's milk is a gateway drug.

(I am so tired of having to fight the same stupid battles over and over and over.)

[Uncle Joe]

14. I agree, Breast milk is the first gateway drug, calcium is a natural sedative.

Infants becoming addicted to it, sleep a good part of day away, and when the breast is taken away, they have temper swings with prolonged crying, screaming and pouting, sometimes that doesn't even stop in to adult hood.

Then the little toddlers graduate to sugar, thanks in large part to the corporate media pushing this insidious second tier gateway drug during it's Saturday Morning cartoon programming, brainwashing the little children's minds as to what constitutes happiness.

At some point the child may be introduced to their first caffeine rush from carbonated beverages, coffee, tea and chocolate, there is some scientific research which suggests that for females chocolate can serve as almost a substitute for sex, for males that usually comes in the form of porn.

Of course these hyped up kids need to come down, that's where Ritalin, Prozac and who's knows what else come in which is marketed to their parents and prescribed to the children as being the answer to the parents and teachers problems of stress.

Now these young teens seek other escapes from their conflicted world, that's where alcohol, tobacco and raiding their parent's medicine cabinets come in, Marijuana along with the other illegals enter the picture as well.

The other gateway drugs are the legal ones produced by Big Pharma and relentlessly pushed during the prime time news hour by the corporate media for every ailment under the sun. Usually people taking one for an ailment also receive adverse side effects as a result which requires another one and before long they have an entire pharmacy on their living room end table.

The final gateway drugs were those administered illegally by Dr. Kevorkian when he allowed people to escape their misery or by the state when it executes someone.

The upshot is, there is no "gate way" because human existence lives on drugs or altered states of consciousness from beginning to end.

[CanSocDem]

19. Well said.

It makes you wonder what it is exactly that we fear about the 'natural' state.


.

[piratefish08]

4. the drug dealer is the gateway drug. legalize it already.

[MH1]

12. ^^ THIS. ^^ nt.

[bitchkitty]

5. It would be more correct to call it an exit drug.

I know more than a few ex-drunks that choose to smoke marijuana at the end of a hard day, instead of stopping for happy hour.

Romney is a fucking moron, plain and simple.

[Lint Head]

6. This is a great thing to promote. It makes excellent sense. Marijuana is not addictive

and alcoholism is a major disease.

[MH1]

13. I used mj to 'exit' nicotine addiction. worked great.

that was decades ago, though, when I was in college. I hadn't smoked cigarettes for long but realized I was already addicted. Nothing worked until I decided to take a toke instead of a cigarette every time I felt the urge. I slept a lot but actually had a good GPA that semester, lol.

[bhikkhu]

7. My sense is that, for kids, its a gateway drug to lifelong poorly educated poverty and joblessness

I could be wrong, but that's the overall impression I've had, from the people I knew through school myself, from friends as they went through school, and from my own kid's friends now. In fairness, smoking cigarettes seems to be about as closely correlated to bad attitudes, lack of all motivation and lack of any work ethic, but marijuana smoking among kids is a consistent indicator that all expectations are out the window.

Again, I could be wrong, but that's the underlying problem I have with legalization, balancing against some positive aspects.

[Romulox]

9. What about our President, bhikkhu? Forget about him?

[Romulox]

10. Last THREE Presidents, at least, in fact...

[Uncle Joe]

17. Two Presidents, one pRresident and the last two American Nobel Peace Prize Winners.

[Fumesucker]

15. But pot is easier to get for kids than alcohol..

Precisely because it's illegal for everyone..

Even anti-pot websites agree with this..

http://www.adolescent-substance-abuse.com/substance-abuse/is-marijuana-or-alcohol-having-more-impact-on-your-teen.htm

Both alcohol and marijuana are dangerous for adolescents, but which is easier for teens to get? Despite the fact that alcohol is a legal drug, often stored in parents' liquor cabinets and available for purchase if teens know someone over 21 years old, experts and adolescents say that marijuana is now easier for teens to get their hands on than alcohol.

[frylock]

16. take michael phelps for instance..

just another tree burning, shiftless, lazy, ne'erdo well.

[NatBurner]

20. yep. and bill clinton.

what a loser he turned out to be

[dana_b]

18. I understand what you are saying however

I think there are underlying issues and smoking and marijuana use just happen to be habits that these people pick up. Is marijuana a cause of poverty and joblessness or are there other issues (difficult home life, poor school performance, poverty) that lead folks to use marijuana? That seems to be more the case in what I have witnessed. Also, (my own anecdotal stories) in my life currently both my daughter and I have used medical marijuana for back pain with herniated discs, my daughters friends (ages 20 - 26) ALL use marijuana and all of us are either in college or college educated and working. This is about 8-10 people. Just something to ponder.

[raouldukelives]

21. I've noticed the same things.

It's like they stop caring about becoming successful MBA's or making lots of money by investing in the stock market. You can make good money of the denial of health insurance claims and military suppliers. Heck, more than a few think the military might actually not be as noble as it appears and are actually just lackeys for some kind of global money making scheme and that our politicians sometimes don't care as much about the issues that affect them as much as the ones that affect big business.
Of course I just laugh at them. Silly pot smokers. You are wasting your life thinking you can live like some sort of modern Native American who refuses to profit off the suffering of others or take part in this fabulous system they are born into that showcases the evolution of our species and is the shining pinnacle of mankind's struggle for freedom, equality and liberty for all people of the world.

[woofless]

23. Yes, you could be wrong, and you are.

Stoners learn, work and make moral decisions. The evidence is all around you and you just don't see it because you don't know who is using cannabis. Many, many people whom you would consider moral, energetic and educated are also stoned.

[newspeak]

24. I had two friends who toked before Reagan's war on drugs

he, a salesman who made six figures; she, an avid crafts maker. So, saying MJ keeps people from being industrious is blatantly false. Anyway, when they started really stepping up the militarization on drugs, they both quit. No withdrawals, no "gotta have a toke." Of course, they missed it-how it relaxed them after a days works, but both had no withdrawal symptoms. Now compare that to alcohol and tobacco.

[Vidar]

8. Gateway drug to potato chips and Twinkies, maybe.

[Life Long Dem]

11. Gateway drug because your street dealer only had heroin today.

But that's alright because Romney has his excuse.

[Romulox]

22. Please do not share this position with Mitt Romney, President Obama. Time for more evolution! nt