On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Larry Lyons<[email protected]> wrote: > >>Actually, that is not what I said. >> >>What I said was that sometimes (though not nearly as often as some >>would have you believe) pot is the first step. Most (if not all) of >>the hardcore drug users I saw in my career in EMS started with pot. >>Now, as has been stated, this has more to do with the person than >>whatever dug they first started using, but it does not detract form >>the fact that pot can, for some, be the first step into hardcore >>drugs. >> >>Would they get into hardcore drugs if they did not start with pot? No >>one knows. We can speculate, but we do not know for sure. I will also >>state that I have known a lot of people who never went past pot (which >>gives weight to the 'its the person, not the drug' idea). >> > > While many addicts start on less "harmful" drugs, a very "mild" drug does not > necessary lead to more harmful psychoactive drugs. Similarly there are those > addicts that started on crack heroin etc., without any intervening steps.
I think we both said the same thing. Though, most drug addicts I encountered in my previous career started with a 'mild' drug, but admittedly, this is a small sampling of 'drug addicts' > > In other words correlation != causation. Just like with guns. Owning a gun does not necessarily lead to killing someone. ;D > > It may also be that many users shop around for their buzz. I am willing to > bet that those more hard core users you mentioned drank beer before they > touched pot. Also I suspect that its not just one drug (ie crack, meth etc) > they take regularly, but more than one. I would agree with that. > > To some extent I think that addiction is determined to a great extent by > physiological factors. Then by environmental ones. If the person tends > towardsfor addition (and pardon the very gross over-generalization here) they > will become addicted to something. They may change from drug to drug until > they find one that supplies their need best. In contrast there are also those > who no matter the exposure to whatever, they will not become addicted. If you > look at the uptake pathways in the brain, many addicts will show a lot more > response in select areas of the brain than non addicts. The caveat here is > that these studies used small samples etc. Again, I think we are saying the same thing. > > Environmental factors may determine in part the choice of drugs and degree of > exposure/ Thay may determine the degree of resistance to addiction, such as > competing behaviors, cognitive factors etc, but I don't think that they have > as much of an impact as physiology in whether the person becomes addicted. Again, I agree. > > larry > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:300864 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
