E-Cigs: The New Gateway Drug?!

[briantodd20]

The local news here in Los Angeles aired a story today about the, "Alarming" rise in e-cig use among teens, and the local officials are calling this the new "gateway drug." A few years ago I was forced to sit through one of many drug awareness classes while serving in the Army, and I got into a rather heated debate with the instructor who started his discussion by proclaiming that {OTHER STUFF} is THE gateway drug. I argued that alcohol and cigarettes where the first substances that most youth experimented with before moving on to others. He vehemently argued that his position was the consensus of healthcare community, and the entire event ended with me coming dangerously close to disrespecting an officer! I find it interesting that tobacco products have been able to escape this label, but now all of a sudden millions of our nations youth are one ego-twist away from heroine!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[JoeDerty]

Yea i smoked {SOMETHING ILLICIT} as a teen because I smoked a cig. Nope it was the other way around for me. That's like saying coffee is a gateway drug to {SOMETHING BAD}!

 

[Miralcos]

Wonder if they consider apples to be a gateway... hrmmm

 

[Baditude]

This is what happens when government starts sticking their noses into nobody's business.

Alcohol and tobacco get a pass because the government makes big money from the sin taxes on those products, plus it keeps a lot of people employed.

The {OTHER STUFF} was banned for decades because it was considered a Gateway Drug and now some states are legalizing it. Go figure. The government must have decided it could make money from it.

Kids (and I'm speaking of teens) are gonna experiment with cigarettes, alcohol, {OTHER STUFF}, and whatever no matter if its legal or not. It's the parent's responsibility to keep watch over them, not the government.

Not that I'm an advocate of teens using e-cigs, but I'd much rather see them using them than alcohol, cigarettes, or {OTHER STUFF}.

 

[Tbev]

This is what happens when the government find something they don't like, they push negative bs that doesn't have to come close to making sense BC people in the US are so stupid they will believe it. Doesn't take much.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

 

[Ryedan]

The local news here in Los Angeles aired a story today about the, "Alarming" rise in e-cig use among teens, and the local officials are calling this the new "gateway drug."

This stuff needs to be challenged. Gateway to which drug? I assume they are talking about nicotine, but that would not be a gateway thing because that is what may be in these e-cigs. What drug(s) are they referring to and where is the evidence this is actually happening?

 

[icyblack]

people in the US are so stupid they will believe it. Doesn't take much.

We canucks are in the same boat. We used to be the true north strong and free - now people are screaming for the government to protect every aspect of their lives. Drives me insane.

 

[Sickkboy]

This is what happens when the government find something they don't like, they push negative bs that doesn't have to come close to making sense BC people in the US are so stupid they will believe it. Doesn't take much.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Doesn't happen only in US.

 

[SissySpike]

We canucks are in the same boat. We used to be the true north strong and free - now people are screaming for the government to protect every aspect of their lives. Drives me insane.

This applies to everyone ”Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security.”
Ben Franklin

 

[Talyon]

We canucks are in the same boat. We used to be the true north strong and free - now people are screaming for the government to protect every aspect of their lives. Drives me insane.

We're still True North, ummm I think perhaps northerly. Yes to Strong, well at least my Nanny is strong. Free yes free woohoo, oops I guess not really. Just my 2 cents, everything has a cost.

 

[mobocracy]

Experimenting with altered states of consciousness is a natural part of the human condition. There is no such thing as a "gateway drug" that somehow convinces people to eventually start experimenting with ...... (which is just a place-holder for "the worst" drugs).

The fact is that we don't tell the truth to kids or adults about the effects of any mind-altering substance. We lie to them about them all and probably the worst lies are about ......... Once they discover that ........ isn't what "the authorities" have said it is they then question what's said about everything else, why should they believe even the more reasonable warnings about substances with more real dangers, like {OTHER BAD STUFF} or .......?

But if they want to worry about gateway drugs they should worry about pumping kids as young as elementary school age with pharmaceutical grade amphetamines like Ritalin, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications like Klonapin. What "lesson" do they think they're teaching here? Not only are kids learning that pills make them high, they get the impression that because the doctor provides them that they're easy and safe.

At its core, the real issue here is our society's Calvinistic moralism, the idea that feeling good without suffering is somehow a sin.

 

[Jarbs]

kids are always going to try to emulate what adults do, no matter what it is.

 

[suspectK]

In my opinion, air is the ultimate gateway drug. Most every animal is searching for some form of "consciousness expansion." Humans like to think they're not part of the animal kingdom for some reason..

 

[WattWick]

Some people will start to smoke anyway (like most of us did lol). Whether or not they drop by vaping on their way there is irrelevant. Vaping isn't a gateway, it's a huge wide open flood gate out of smoking. If the occasional fish manage to jump up the waterfall... does it really matter?

Heh... ain't I the Metaphor-Man today

 

[retired1]

Moved to Media and General News

 

[skoony]

the gate way drug is a myth created to pull the wool over the sheeples eyes.
there are a few things that will happen when addictive or substances that can be abused
are encountered in ones life.
1.you don't do it,care to do it.its not your bag.you never have or will do it.no harm no foul.
2.you try it and it does nothing for you,or makes you feel uneasy or ill.you never do it again.
3.you try it,you like it,and like 90% of the people who do try it you might or might not become
a casual user.week end user.once in a while at a gathering user.its no big deal.its
not life and death to you.it does'nt create problems in your life.
4.you become a chronic(heavy) user.about 10% roughly of all users.
it may or may not affect your life,or sometime in your life creates a problem.
of this 10% a small percentage is what we would think of as addicts.
those whose drug completely runs there lives.24/7.
job loss,family loss,etc,etc..
as you can see with cigarette and caffeine use other than health related issues that may
or may not appear,some substances will have a more immediate and drastic affect.
the point is its only a small percent of the population that will have any real negative affect from
anything.i am 58 years old,and i know addicts that wouldn't think of touching a cigarette
because its bad for them.
this covers all such addictive or abused substances,even the bad ones.

most people who ever tried a cigarette never went on to smoking.
same with alcohol, caffeine or anything else.
if there is a gate way drug its air.
after your first breath any thing can happen.

regards
mike

 

[Uma]

the gate way drug is a myth created to pull the wool over the sheeples eyes.
there are a few things that will happen when addictive or substances that can be abused
are encountered in ones life.
1.you don't do it,care to do it.its not your bag.you never have or will do it.no harm no foul.
2.you try it and it does nothing for you,or makes you feel uneasy or ill.you never do it again.
3.you try it,you like it,and like 90% of the people who do try it you might or might not become
a casual user.week end user.once in a while at a gathering user.its no big deal.its
not life and death to you.it does'nt create problems in your life.
4.you become a chronic(heavy) user.about 10% roughly of all users.
it may or may not affect your life,or sometime in your life creates a problem.
of this 10% a small percentage is what we would think of as addicts.
those whose drug completely runs there lives.24/7.
job loss,family loss,etc,etc..
as you can see with cigarette and caffeine use other than health related issues that may
or may not appear,some substances will have a more immediate and drastic affect.
the point is its only a small percent of the population that will have any real negative affect from
anything.i am 58 years old,and i know addicts that wouldn't think of touching a cigarette
because its bad for them.
this covers all such addictive or abused substances,even the bad ones.

most people who ever tried a cigarette never went on to smoking.
same with alcohol, caffeine or anything else.
if there is a gate way drug its air.
after your first breath any thing can happen.

regards
mike

Well said!
My gateways were curiosity & boredom while my Mom worked her .... off to pay the mortgage & feed & clothe us while my older brothers "babysat" me. But, I must admit, I stayed away from alcohol & other fun stuff until in my teens, when my peers took over the babysitting job. Peer pressure, curiosity, boredom, & the only education the schools taught was hyperbole, so I added rebellion to my list.
Instead of spending trillions of dollars being anti fun, if they really cared about kids, they would spend money on after school and summer programs & activities. Imagine learning how to grow a vegetable garden instead of mushrooms, imagine transportation to sport & field activities instead of having to sit another year out. Imagine learning what the first signs of addiction are & how to sidestep it.

Smoking & other fun activities kept me sane.

 

[Sundodger]

This whole gateway argument has major flaws in it, just the opposite is usually the truth of the matter. In the Army I was a DAES (drug, alcohol, education specialist), being in Europe we had to deal with things a little different. While the UCMJ was what was mostly used in criminal cases and rehab, we also at times had to use the host countries rules about drug/alcohol addiction, which at that time was a lot different than what was/is pushed in the U.S.

Those old enough to remember a propaganda movie called Xxxxxx Madness that was shown until the late 1960's in the U.S. as an educational tool. The biggest problem was that kids saw this and at first were scared. Then what happened in the '60's when they would see some of their friends using xxx and not going nut's as portrayed in the movie? Human nature would be to think, hey, someone's lying to us! Well now you really have a gateway problem, the propaganda movie was a lie, so what else are they lying about? That IS the gateway to get people/kids to try something else, lie to them about one thing and they will see it as all a lie. We really need to rethink how we treat these problems. People take stuff because it makes them feel good, different, unusual, the problem is when is there an addiction and when must it be treated.

 

[sebt]

Then what happened in the '60's when they would see some of their friends using xxx and not going nut's as portrayed in the movie? Human nature would be to think, hey, someone's lying to us! Well now you really have a gateway problem, the propaganda movie was a lie, so what else are they lying about? That IS the gateway to get people/kids to try something else, lie to them about one thing and they will see it as all a lie. We really need to rethink how we treat these problems. People take stuff because it makes them feel good, different, unusual, the problem is when is there an addiction and when must it be treated.

Fantastically well put.

The real gateway drug is lying. Lying about "gateway drugs" is an admission that the person talking doesn't really know what they're talking about; but they have to be seen to be doing something, so they fling any old propaganda at the "problem". And once you accept that it's OK to lie to people "for their own good", that's the gateway to ever more outrageous lies. And the more they lie, the less anyone believes them, so they have to lie harder and harder. I think I've just described a classic "addiction spiral".

Carl Phillips has a paper up on his antihrlies.com site about the "gateway" effect.

I would bet good money that the "increasing use of e-cigarettes" among young people this LA new story cites is actually increasing ever-use. Meaning that any person who's even taken one puff from an e-cig (even if they hate it and never try one ever again) would be counted as a "user". Both Phillips and Mike Siegel (among, oh, dozens and dozens of others!) have called out this shameless bit of lying, classically done with the CDC study a little while back.

 

[Lethalp]

I don't think it's a gateway drug. They are grasping at straws again. Teenagers are gonna try whatever they get their hands on, cigs, ecig s, alcohol, prescription pills.
O wait these are the same kids that {DO SOMETHING BAD} right??? Uh looks to me like ecigs and vaping should be the least of their worries.


{MODERATED}

Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using Tapatalk