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What are Gateway Drugs?
• Some types of gateway drugs include alcohol, marijuana, and abuse of prescription drugs.
• They are called gateway drugs because--for many drug addicts-- they were a “gateway” to the use of hard drugs such as meth, heroin, and cocaine.
• Gateway drugs cause a psychological dependence that requires more of the drug to get the same effect; therefore, users often begin experimenting with other drugs to achieve the same high.
Know the Facts!
• In a recent study of 200 hard users of drugs, 99% of them had used marijuana before using other drugs.
• Between 1995 and 2005, people receiving treatment for prescription drug addiction increased more than 300%
• 1/3 of all traffic deaths for young people aged 15-19 involve alcohol use.
• Those who start drinking alcohol before age 15, are 4 times more likely to become alcoholics.
• 25% of all emergency room visits are related to mixing alcohol with medication.
According to a recent study, teenagers who drink or smoke pot regularly are 60 times more likely to use heroin, cocaine, or meth,
...even if they aren’t usually people who take risks
...even if they don’t have friends who use drugs
...even if hard drugs aren’t available in their neighborhoods and...even if nobody in their family is a drug user.
Think it Stops with Gateway Drugs?
Heather’s Story:
At 13, I started drinking and smoking pot and cigarettes.
By 17, prescription pill popping and alcohol were not enough. Friends told me meth would do the trick. After the first try, I wanted nothing else. I was invincible—I stopped going to work, I got fired, I stopped going home to my family, all to get high. With nowhere to live and no job, meth was my only concern. I started stealing and doing odd jobs to get drugs. On the lowest day of my life, coming down from a 3-day high, vomiting, dehydrated, and sleep deprived, I was in desperate need of medical attention—with no one sober enough to help me. That last high almost killed me.
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