Long-held fears that the use of marijuana will lead to harder drugs are overblown, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire. The research, in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that other factors, such as whether or not a person has a job, or is facing severe stress, are far more predictive of future hard drug use than whether they smoked pot as a teenager. “Employment in young adulthood can protect people by closing the marijuana gateway, so over-criminalizing youth marijuana use might create more serious problems if it interferes with later employment opportunities,” said co-author Karen Van Gundy. The strongest factor influencing the use of illicit drugs is an individual's race or ethnicity, according to the study. Non-Hispanic whites are most likely to use harder drugs such as heroin or cocaine, followed by Hispanics and then by African Americans. Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/09/02/con-marijuana-gateway.html#ixzz0yOEO… ://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/09/02/con-marijuana-gateway.html added by: JackHerer
