The Gateway Drug "Why does anyone use drugs at all?" The simple answer is that these drugs are chemicals which produce feelings the users like or, more realistically, learn to like. Marijuana plays a special role in the drug dependence process. It is almost universallly the first illegal drug a young adult uses (http://www.newscientist.com). The child who avoids marijuana use is unlikely ever to use any other illegal drug, including cocaine or …showed first 75 words of 515 total…

…showed last 75 words of 515 total…contains more tar and even more cancer-causing chemicals than tobacco smoke (Gateway Drugs 68). Marijuana smoke also has more carbon monoxide and other chemicals known to be harmful to human lungs than does the smoke of an old-fashioned and highly toxic unfiltered ordinary cigarette. Marijuana smoke does not have nicotine, which is primarily toxic to the circulatory system though it has THC which is toxic to the lungs as well as to other organs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**