Anti-weed advocates are slowly being painted into a corner. Realizing that the good old modes of propaganda and fear mongering aren’t fooling teenagers anymore, crusaders are turning to circular logic in an attempt to confuse and disorient those still on the fence. Gateway Theory is an old standard, along these lines: If smoking pot makes you more likely to shoot pure anthrax into your left ventricle, then clearly it should be kept illegal, right?

This week, DRC.net’s Scott Morgan made a very compelling scientific caseagainst any possible causality between smoking weed and trying harder drugs. He cites several studies, including a University of Pittsburgh paper that concluded:

“…the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug but instead by the user’s individual tendencies and environmental circumstances.”

While it appears that science comes down decisively against the side of the Gatewayers, common sense does so even more powerfully. Think for a moment about the insanity that would be unleashed upon us if our Congress regularly decided to ban innocuous things that could potentially lead to illegal behavior later on.

* Bandannas and colored shirts lead to gang associations.
* Water gun fights seem a clear gateway to indiscriminate shootings.
* Unemployment would be made illegal for fear it would turn honest men into grifters and thieves.
* Cellphones and pagers are critical to drug dealing, so clearly they are gateway products.
* Computers and the Internet are responsible for the appearance of countless pedophiles, rapists, and other undesirables.

Clearly they would all have to go.

No lawmaker could ever productively act using Gateway Theory. We humans are pretty lousy at predicting causality. If we begin to ban things that could lead to harm, we’ll ban ourselves right out of existence.

(Originally Posted on The Fresh Scent)

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