New study debunks the 'Gateway Theory'

A new study, based at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Sydney, Australia, evaluated the gateway theory using cross-national data regarding "consistency and associations of the order of initiation of drug use." The results of this test "suggest that the 'gateway' pattern at least partially reflects unmeasured common causes rather than causal effects of specific drugs or subsequent use of others. This implies that successful efforts to prevent use of specific 'gateway' drugs may not in themselves lead to major reductions in the use of later drugs," the study concludes.
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