Are explicit drug users actually victims?

Ok then.

Alcohol and Nicotine are Gateway drugs.

Weed can be "laced" with heroin.

I'm not entirely sure about the pharmacology of this but it is a common phenomenon - it does happen.

Also, heroin can be smoked..

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroin

That doesn't even make any sense.

There is not any evidence because it is not true.

It is because of people like you making things up, that a ridiculous Drug Policy has been created.

Even your example doesn't make any sense. If she didn't take it at 20 and then decided to take it at 40 for the first time, it would have still had the same underwhelming effect because the problem was the Drug quality.

She would have still tried to go for something stronger like Heroin.

It seems you have no idea about drugs. It is not common at all, in fact it is unbelievably rare. Heroin is very expensive and would not be used to simply lace weed.

No, not as much as cannabis. The effects of alcohol and nicotine arnt similar to that of heroin.

Cannabis is the closest out of the three.

Also I know it's the daily mail but I bet more research can get me reliable sources.. But:

"Researchers have found that cannabis acts as a 'gateway' drug, because exposure during adolescence primes the system to crave the chemical stimulation of hard drugs."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-394077/Early-cannabis-abuse-leads-heroin-addiction.html

No, not as much as cannabis. The effects of alcohol and nicotine arnt similar to that of heroin.

Cannabis is the closest out of the three.

Also I know it's the daily mail but I bet more research can get me reliable sources.. But:

"Researchers have found that cannabis acts as a 'gateway' drug, because exposure during adolescence primes the system to crave the chemical stimulation of hard drugs."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-394077/Early-cannabis-abuse-leads-heroin-addiction.html

Researchers from the Research Drugs Policy Center found quite the opposite. The research was also backed by the UK charity Drugscope.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2538065.stm

This is seriously old news, quite literally.

Giving a dose of free heroin to ensure a customer returns for a longer period of time is far more beneficial to the dealer.. The cost of heroin isn't even much.. You can get heroin for around £25 or so for a "go"

Sorry, what is the point of this article? I said Cannabis is a gateway drug if Alcohol is.

I didn't say that Chronic Cannabis users require show exactly the same physiological response as Non Drug Users.

How common do you think it is then, per kg of weed sold how much of it is laced?

Weed can be "laced" with heroin.

I'm not entirely sure about the pharmacology of this but it is a common phenomenon - it does happen.

Also, heroin can be smoked..

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroin

I'm not making anything up. I wouldn't suggest such a correlation if I didn't see it almost every one of the methadone patients I deal with?

How can one even prove that cannabis is a gateway drug? You can't really conduct an experiment that would prove it, all you can go on is what's already out there.

What? No. She tried cannabis and she said "it didn't do the job for me", and then she took heroin.

Hi,

To answer your question directly, this is a business, there has and always will be a high demand for these substances. People will be exploited due to the illegality of the process, unfortunately resulting in criminal organisations taking profit off poor production/ distribution of bad products. I'm not saying I know the solution but It could be done in a safer way for the people using licensed chemists. The only way forward is to make sure the people in our society, the 'users' you so speak of get the 'safest' and by that i mean 'purest' substances available. Almost all death related incidents are a result of a concoction of chemicals that are not in a stable form. Lacing cheap MDMA with daz for example..

I do not agree with recreational use of specific substances but it is hard when there is such a vast generalisation of the term 'drug'. Is a drug to you something only considered illegal?

Addiction is usually triggered off as a result of past or present trauma. Unfortunately you can become addicted very easily to anything from drugs (including alcohol), to McDonald's. Although when someone has an addiction to food, we tend to assume the person is the problem, not the Big Macs. This is the same with drugs, although weirdly society has it backwards and identifies the substances as the initial problem. This is again is due to the illegality. People only turn up for help when they really have a problem, as who wants a criminal record right? These people give a biased and poor representation of our society. It's like labelling everyone who drinks an alcoholic.

New groundbreaking chemicals are being developed each day and we need to continue studying their pharmacological effects. These chemicals should be used for what they were initially intended for, to help people with real issues.

Summary of rant:

With drugs people are victims of their own demise. "So good God man handle your ****!"

Yes, read the relevant part.. The part I quoted

I wouldn't make this up if I didn't see it happen. Like I said, from the people I deal with through work.. It seems pretty common. It might just be exclusive to my area (i.e the drug dealers of my area) - but I've seen it happen plenty of times to rule out the possibility of it being an anomaly.

So, I can see why it may sound ridiculous to you..

With regards to your next question, I wouldn't know the exact measurements

Well, you can prove it. If Cannabis users actually required harder drugs, then the majority of Cannabis users would require Heroin or harder drugs after use.

The fact that every methadone patient used Cannabis at one point or another is quite irrelevant. I am sure they also used Alcohol at some point.

Yes. Your patient would never have got any satisfaction from Cannabis. So, it was never a gateway drug. She might as well would have gone straight onto Heroin.

I'm not making anything up. I wouldn't suggest such a correlation if I didn't see it almost every one of the methadone patients I deal with?

How can one even prove that cannabis is a gateway drug? You can't really conduct an experiment that would prove it, all you can go on is what's already out there.

What? No. She tried cannabis and she said "it didn't do the job for me", and then she took heroin.

I'm sure it does happen, but it is far from common. It happened to one of my friends in Thailand. However from personal experience it is not a common occurrence.

Which points more towards chronically low levels of neurotransmitters in the brain - particularly dopamine - and a reduced sense of a neurological reward system rather than cannabis being a gateway drug.

That's probably where the general disagreement between the two of us stems from. Whilst you points are valid, from my personal experience (and I deal with around 300 explicit drug users) a lot of them have said that this has happened to them.